Category Archives: Shipping

  JSW Infrastructure has signed a Concession Agreement with New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) to develop and operate its first container terminal project at the port for 30 years. JSW Infrastructure is investing nearly Rs300 crore to develop the container terminal which will have a capacity of 400,000 TEUs. As part of the proposed investment, JSW Infrastructure will undertake mechanisation of Berth No 14 for handling containers and other cargo on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) basis. The container terminal will have a quay length of 350 meters and accommodate vessels up to 9000 TEUs. It will have a backup storage area of 15.5 hectares for storage of container. Commenting on the development Arun Maheshwari, Joint MD & CEO, JSW Infrastructure said, “Container terminal at NMPT will enable us to expand our footprints in container segment and diversify our cargo mix. We expect to commission the terminal by mid of next year. It will play a key role in economic development of NMPT and the entire region expanding upto Mysore, Hassan and Bengaluru.”

N Sivasailam, Special Secretary – Logistics, Department of Commerce, Government of India has kindly consented to grace the India Cargo Awards 2019. India Cargo Awards 2019 are scheduled to be held on January 27, 2020 from 7 pm to 10 pm at the Crowne Plaza Greater Noida. Sivasailam is an officer of the 1985 batch of the Indian Administrative Service allotted to Karnataka Cadre. He graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering, University of Delhi. He did his Master’s in Business Administration at the Faculty Management Studies, University of Delhi, and Master’s in Social Policy & Planning from the London School of Economics and Post Graduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Rights Law (IPRL) from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. Prior to this assignment, he served as an Additional Chief Secretary in the Department of Public Enterprises, Government of Karnataka. He has served in the Departments of Health & Family Welfare and Medical Education, Forest, Ecology & Environment Departments of the Government of Karnataka as Principal Secretary.

The MCCI Logistics Forum 2019 emphasised on regular communication between importers of Nepal and the service providers in India to bring down logistics cost. Sudip Dey, Vice Chairman, Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations in India (FFFAI), suggests, “There must be regular interactions between the importers of Nepal and Kolkata Service providers to bring down cost of Nepal import. It was only due to lack of communication that anomalies were happening (e.g. port ground rent, penalty by Railways etc). KOPT may keep a liaison officer in Nepal for dealing with day to day issues. Border restrictions for transit into Nepal should be done away with and vigilance should be done with the help of risk management & IT.” Highlighting the importance of Indo-Nepal as well as regional trade MCCI officials maintained that an efficient logistics and transportation infrastructure would be critical for strengthening India’s trade and economic engagement with its neighboring countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) will be acquiring a 75% stake from the existing shareholders of Krishnapatnam Port and Company (KPCL). This acquisition will accelerate APSEZ’s stride towards 400 MMT by 2025. The acquisition value of KPCL is approximately Rs13,500 crore. The purchase consideration will be funded through internal accruals and existing cash balance. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and the transaction is expected to be completed in 120 days. Karan Adani, Chief Executive Officer and Whole Time Director, APSEZ, said, “Given the best-in-class infrastructure and the distinct hinterland catered by KPCL, this acquisition will not just increase our market share to 27 per cent but also add remarkable value to our pan-India footprint.”

According to Maersk India Trade Report Q3 2019, India’s import and export container trade remained flat as compared to global growth of 1.5 per cent in in Q3 2019 (July-September). The slowdown is aligned closely with the weaker domestic demand, as well as a reflection of the broad-based cyclical weakening of the economic environment in all the main global economies. The negative effects from escalating trade restrictions also weighed on trade growth in the quarter. The trade restrictions have reduced bilateral trade between the United States of America and China, and led to shifts in trade structures, with global importers having shifted sourcing from China to other countries such as Vietnam, Taiwan, Bangladesh and Korea, with Thailand, Mexico and India also showing early signs of being next in line to benefit. Specifically, in India, the economic uncertainty, tight liquidity, decline in global export orders and evolving domestic political scenario also affected the flow of investments and added to currency volatility. While imports into the country witnessed a subdued growth, the overall fiscal impact was nullified by an identical contraction in exports.

The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has revised the cargo handling target to 100 million tonne (MT) on national waterways by 2021-22, as against its earlier estimation of 150 MT. The Centre declared 106 national waterways in 2016 in addition to the existing five, taking India’s total navigable inland waterways to 20,000 km. According to the latest projection, traffic on national waterways is expected to increase from 72 MT in 2018 -19 to 100 MT by FY22. Earlier this year, the IWAI had stated that about 55 MT of cargo was handled on national waterways in 2017-18 and given the trend, the 150 MT target for 2021-22 was likely to be achieved before the deadline.

The second LOGIX India 2019 – International Buyer Seller Meet was held on December 12, 2019 at New Delhi, launched by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) with the active support from Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. The three days mega event saw well over 3500 business to business meetings along with parallel sessions on different issues, challenges and above all opportunities about the logistics sector across India and the world. Inaugurating the event, Som Parkash, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, Government of India, said, “Logistics is the backbone of any trade and industry. Currently the logistics cost in India is 30-40 per cent higher than the global benchmarked logistics cost. And therefore, it is a big challenge for the government. However, the government aims at reducing it to 10 per cent of the GDP. The government is also planning to invest around 100 lakhs crore in logistics infrastructure in the next five years. We are also in the process of coming out with a new National Logistics Policy and creating data bank by getting feedback from different stakeholders.

The weekly AS8 is set to directly link the South-East Asian economies of Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia with the India Subcontinent markets of India and Pakistan. The AS8 will be characterised by its direct port connectivity from Laem Chabang to Pipavav, Port Qasim and Karachi. With this, shippers with India and Pakistan bound shipments from Thailand will find the AS8 service a faster alternative to relaying cargoes through transhipments. AS8 will start sailing from Laem Chabang on December 16, 2019 with the following port rotation: Laem Chabang-Singapore – Port Klang (North Port) – Port Klang (West Port) – Pipavav – Port Qasim – Karachi.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) along with CONCOR are commencing a weekly scheduled export train from ICD Ludhiana to JN Port to ensure faster evacuation of export containers destined for JNPT. The service also enhances the trade requirement of Ludhiana with the Mumbai. The Ludhiana ICD caters to a vast interior market that includes the states of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, and Rajasthan. With an extensive network of more than 80 ICDs nationwide, CONCOR commands the bulk of Indian containerized rail transportation.

Allcargo Logistics has forayed into the express logistics space by acquiring a controlling stake in Gati. The company has added another domestic service to its portfolio by entering a segment which has been growing exponentially through this transaction. “The exponential rise in cross-border and domestic e-commerce has opened up new markets for traditional express players such as Gati. With Allcargo’s existing strength in the ocean transportation business and Gati’s expertise in land and air transportation, we are now in a unique position to offer our customers a suite of truly multimodal solutions,” comments, Shashi Kiran Shetty, Chairman, Allcargo Logistics. According to a study led by Deloitte in 2018, the express logistics industry is expected to reach Rs48,000 crore (US$ 7 billion) by 2023. This growth will primarily be driven by domestic consumption, shift from unorganised to organised trade, e-commerce (domestic and cross border) and significant demand from the small and medium B2B segment.