Containing problems

Raghu Dayal / Feb 23, 2007, 00:00 IST

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The existing infrastructure in ports and their rail connectivity with other regions has not kept pace with economic growth and rise in trade volumes.

The existing infrastructure in ports and their rail connectivity with other regions has not kept pace with economic growth and rise in trade volumes.
Containers account for over 50 per cent of world merchandise trade; nearly 80 per cent of the world's general cargo volumes are shipped in containers.

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World containerised trade more than doubled during the decade 1997-2006, to around one billion tonnes, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9 per cent.

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Unheard of until the 1960s, the container is the standard unit of cargo for just about every manufactured item.

It has ensured safety, helped in the reduction of packing costs, and increased speed of transportation.Containers handled at India's major ports recorded a 14 per cent CAGR during 1992-2005.
The National Maritime Development Programme expects the country to deal with 17.98 million TEU (twenty foot equivalent unit) at all its ports by 2013-14, against the current level of 5.5 million TEU.
India's share in global containerised traffic is just about 1 per cent. Within India, containerisation amounts to 70 per cent of the country's total export volumes, and 40 per cent of imports.
Rail-based export-import container traffic is estimated to go up from 9,94,140 TEU in 2005-06 to 19,61,300 TEU by 2009-10, or more than double the current levels.
Capacities need to be increased rapidly.The potential of developing rail-land corridors for inter-country export-
import containers as well as intra-country trades between east and west coasts needs to be studied.
There is a lesson to draw from China. China's rail network forms just about 6 per cent of world's total railways, but it carries 24 per cent of the world's rail throughput.
Chinese ports have facilitated astounding growth rates in international trade. While all Indian ports handled a total of about five million TEU in 2005-06, Chinese ports recorded a whopping throughput of more than 74 million TEU in 2005.
Low productivity, high costs, inadequate facilities, including low draughts, compel global carriers to trans-ship more than half of India's export-import containers at foreign ports, with Indian shippers putting up with higher costs and lost time.
A McKinsey study found the transit time from Indian factories to retail outlets in the US was 6-12 weeks in comparison with two or three weeks from China.
The existing 26 container berths at various Indian ports registered an average output of 1,70,000 TEU per berth during 2005.
Indian ports need to imbibe the best practices regime. Greenfield ports like Mundra and Pipavav on the Gujarat coast along with Kandla port have an advantage of utilising double-stack container trains to and from inland depots
with the largest traffic potential, e.g., in and around Delhi.
Indian Railways needs to provide a through connection between inland terminals, such as those at Tughlaqabad and Dadri, and the Gujarat coast ports.
The new trans-shipment terminal at Vallarpadam near Cochin will take a few years to materialise and will be able
to handle vessels of up to 6,000 TEU capacity.
Larger mainline vessels will continue to bypass the Indian coast. India needs to develop requisite infrastructure to handle at least 8,000-10,000 TEU ships.
Bigger ports are likely to have deeper berths, more and faster cranes, better IT to keep track of all the boxes, and better road and rail services to move freight in and out.
There is also need to redress regional imbalances. Jawaharlal Nehru Port handled 58 per cent of the country's total container volumes in 2005-06.
With a share of 67 per cent in 2005, the western-north western region has been dominant; the southern region following with 25 per cent and eastern region serving just 8 per cent.
The north commands 35 per cent of the country's container streams. A large container port on the east coast is a
clear imperative.
The writer was with Indian Railways.

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