Ceiling sought on container handling

 Three of these bodies--Western India Shippers Association (Wisa), Mumbai Nhava-Sheva Steamer Agents Association (MANSA) and the Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry have argued with the Union government in favour of such a move.

 Wisa has written to the Union shipping and commerce ministers --Shatrughan Sinha and Arun Jaitley --on the issue. The issue assumes significance as financial bids for the construction and management of the container terminal have to be submitted in the next few days. The tender has been floated by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT).

 "We are seeking a ceiling on the number of containers that can be handled by a shipping line if it were to win the bid for the terminal. The exact cap can be decided by the concerned authorities," R Srinivasan, president of Wisa said. Ravi Budhiraja, the chairman of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust could not be reached for comment as he was not in the city.

 The trade bodies are saying that such a condition should be incorporated in the license agreement with the company or consortium that wins the bid.

 The trade is apprehensive that if a shipping line wins the bid, it may give preferential treatment to its ships. This, the trade feels will defeat the purpose of constructing a common user facility as specified under the terms of the tender.

 At present JNPT has two container terminals, one operated by the trust itself while the second is operated by a company promoted by global major P&O Australia Ports. The two terminals function as common user facilities.