T N C Rajagopalan: Alarming congestion at ports hits exporters

EXIM MATTERS

The crisis at Nhava Sheva, the port that handles more than half the container traffic, has reached alarming proportions. Exporters are not sure when their containers will leave the country.

The congestion at the port and consequent delays have now started causing cancellation of export orders. October is the busiest pre-Christmas season for export shipments. Missing a vessel now means missing the sale.

To cope with the situation, the privately owned Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal (NSICT) evacuated the terminal and moved all the cargo en bloc to the nearest container freight station.

The NSICT has now put pressure on the shipping lines, service providers and feeder operators by limiting the number of moves by each service based on the past 40 weeks average.

The lines/services/feeder operator will have to restrict their imports depending on the number of moves allowed and their action plans with the container freight station and transporters.

They have to quickly evacuate the cargo from the container yards or face restrictions on what they can discharge from the next voyage. Along with documents for vessel berthing, they will have to deliver the work orders for evacuation of imports.

Similarly, the export moves for each service will also be limited. Once the allocated numbers of containers are taken in, the gates to the terminal will be closed automatically. Gates will be opened for 24 hours with a six-hour cut-off prior vessel arrival.

The NSICT will not allow containers put on "hold" or rolled over to be substituted by other exports. Held or rolled over boxes will count towards the allocated figure for the next call and a corresponding less number of exports will be gated in.

The lines or services will be responsible to monitor the flow of containers and a list of boxes giving specifics of containers with numbers coming from CFS's or factory stuffed or reefers will have to be handed over to the respective CFS or transporters as well as to the terminal.

They will also have to place surveyors at the "Y" junction and the NSICT gate with communication to monitor the flow of these containers and to ensure that undocumented or not ready containers do not run up to the gate and block the same.

Exporters have to now court favours from shipping lines rather than their customer. Importers are helpless and can best hope that the line chosen has enough allocation of moves to discharge their containers.

The lines have now taken advantage of the situation and slapped congestion surcharge of $50 a container. They also favour the bigger customers. The smaller exporters shipping LCL cargo are the worst hit.

There is no guarantee when their cargo will be shipped. Sometimes it takes over a month to get Bill of Lading after clearing the cargo from inland container depots.

The Container Corporation of India is also struggling to cope with the load. It does not have enough wagons to carry the load. The alternative of moving the cargo by road is not feasible for many exporters because of high cost and absence of any assurance that they will get quick entry at the terminals. Severe infrastructure constraints threaten to choke export growth.

tncr@sify.com