The exhorbitantly high terminal handling charges (THC) collected at the International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT) at Vallarpadam is seriously affecting the seafood exports from the country.
The steamer agents who collect the THC continue to levy higher rates in spite of directions from the Cochin Port Trust to collect charges as fixed by the Tariff Authority for Major Ports (Tamp). The Tamp fixes the scale of rates (SOR) for all major ports in India, including ICTT Vallarpadam.
As per the Tamp notification, only the terminal operator, which is India Gateway Terminal (P) Ltd (IGTPL) at Vallarpadam, is permitted to collect charges for the services at the terminal. Prior to the opening of ICTT, the THC was collected by the steamer agents who are members of the Cochin Steamer Agents Association (CSAA).
However, even after the commissioning of ICTT, members of CSAA continue to invoice the shippers for THC completely disregarding the notification of Tamp. Further, they increased the THC to more than double of what they were charging.
As several appeals by the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) were disregarded, it approached the High Court of Kerala. The High Court in its interim order directed the chairman of CPT to enquire into the matter and take suitable action.
The chairman after conducting a hearing issued an order in July directing that only the terminal operator is permitted to collect the charges and they should conform to the rates fixed by Tamp.
In spite of this direction by a statutory authority and that too following the direction from the High Court, IGTPL continued to drag its feet on implementing the order. It is relevant to note that the main fishing season in Kerala has kicked off from the August 1 and it is during August and September that large volumes of frozen marine products are exported.
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Approximately, 50 containers arrive at the terminal every day during these two months and also towards the first half of October. SEAI estimates that the additional illegal charges levied by the members of CSAA would work out to be about Rs 8,000 per container. It is also estimated that approximately Rs 3 crore would have been collected illegally from the seafood exporters by the steamer agents till mid October.
IGTPL has delayed implementation of the CPT chairman’s order on direct billing during the peak export season, according to Nobert Karikkassery, treasurer, SEAI.
It is almost three months since the chairman issued the directive. On the one hand, they announced that they are ready to cooperate with the exporters and implement direct billing through the IGTPL, but on the other they resort to procedural delays for implementation causing huge loss to the exporters fraternity, he said.