JNPT faces containers logjam

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), which handles over 58 per cent of container traffic in the country, is slowly building up container backlog at the port.

The congestion is mainly due to the piling up of boxes destined for the various inland container depots (ICDs).

The pendency level of those boxes was reported at 7,100 twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs). R T Revankar, chief manager (operations), JNPT, said the port would be able to clear the container backlog in a week.

"We are working out a contingency plan with Container Corporation of India (Concor) for evacuating boxes. There are plans to move around 700 TEUs per week by barges to Pipavav," Revankar said.

Revankar pointed out that the containers transported via barges to Pipavav would be later carried by double-stacked box trains towards north India.

He added that the congestion at the container freight stations (CFS) front was 4,000 TEU, which would be cleared soon.

According to the shipping industry analysts, the congestion is due to larger volume of trade in the wake of large Christmas orders from the Western countries.