Category Archives: Shipping

According to the Q3 trade report released by Maersk, India’s containerised trade with the world has grown 10 per cent year-on-year. Increasing competitiveness of Indian exports, coupled with improved demand in various destination countries, has propelled exports to grow at 10 per cent year-on-year. The demand for India-made goods such as vehicles and mechanical appliances, as well as refrigerated cargo such as onions, meat, seafood and pharmaceuticals have driven exports. Simultaneously, imports have risen nine per cent year-on-year, largely dominated by a heavy inflow of paper, metal and white goods. Overall, the containerised market has displayed strength, with far less fluctuation compared to the previous year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently dedicated the multimodal terminal on River Ganga to the nation and received the first containerised cargo that had sailed from Haldia port, at Varanasi. Commenting on this landmark journey, Sudip Dey, Vice Chairman, FFFAI, said, “The recently-inaugurated multimodal terminal on National Waterway-1 (NW-1) for transporting containerised cargo between Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and Haldia port in West Bengal is expected to provide a significant push to ex-im trade from eastern India, especially from Kolkata and its catchment areas. It is also expected that in the months to come, Haldia port would be able to strengthen its position as a viable transhipment port in the South East Asia region, thanks to burgeoning and potential trade transactions between India and Bangladesh through multimodal connectivity, where this port would play a pivotal role.”

Marking the debut of containerised movement on inland waterways of the country, PepsiCo India became the first company to use containerised vessel movement for transporting products from its plant in Kolkata to the port in Varanasi. The first containerised vessel was received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the newly developed multi-modal terminal in Varanasi. Also present on the momentous occasion was Ahmed El Sheikh, President and CEO, PepsiCo India. He said, “PepsiCo is delighted to be the first company to use containerised vessel movement for transporting products from our plant in Kolkata to the port in Varanasi. This is a significant milestone in the development of inland waterways and we believe this can be a huge enabler for the consumer goods industry.”

Hindustan Infralog (HIPL), a joint venture between DP World and National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), has won the bid to develop and operate the Free Trade Warehousing Zone (FTWZ) at India’s largest container gateway – Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) for $78 million. The facility is expected to be operational by 2020. HIPL is the recently-created investment vehicle between DP World and NIIF to invest up to $3 billion in ports, logistics and related sectors across the country. This is the second investment for HIPL following the acquisition of a 90 per cent stake in multi-modal logistics company Continental Warehousing Corporation (Nhava Sheva). The FTWZ comes with a long-term concession of 60 years and will be developed across 18 hectares at JNPT’s Special Economic Zone (SEZ). JNPT is a key gateway hub handling approximately five million TEUs per annum, which equates to 33 per cent of India’s container traffic. FTWZ’s strategic proximity to the port, the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport, and the western dedicated freight corridor give it direct access to global and domestic markets. Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO, DP World, said, “DP World has a proven track record in developing trade zones, and HIPL will aim to leverage on our global expertise to build this much-needed capacity to support India’s fast-growing export-import trade.” (Source: PTI)

Developed at a cost of Rs 5,369 crore, India’s first inland waterway cargo container movement was flagged off from Kolkata to Varanasi on river Ganga (National Waterway-1), by Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Government of India. The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) marked the first container movement by shipping 16 containers of food and snacks (equivalent to 16 truckloads) of PepsiCo India. This shipment is being transported by the vessel MV RN Tagore and the journey will be covered in about 10 days. After depositing PepsiCo’s shipment, the vessel will return with IFFCO’s fertilisers from the Phulpur plant of Prayagraj.

Maersk has begun its port operations at Ennore (Kamarajar port), offering connectivity between Far East Asian ports of Tanjung Pelepas (Malaysia), Busan (South Korea), and Xingang (China), as well as Indian ports of Chennai, Krishnapatnam, and Visakhapatnam. The company also celebrated the maiden call for its existing ‘Chennai Express’ service at the new container terminal in Ennore port, which is about 15 miles north of Chennai. “The rising global trade to and from India is leading to congestion and moving to new ports that offer quicker turnaround and better service is crucial. Port Ennore has the potential to be the new gateway to South India, and Maersk is geared up to support our customers move their cargo to and from anywhere in the world. Moreover, we can also help our customers with intermodal transport options for end-to-end connectivity across the region, backed by our fleet of trucks and train facilities,” said Steve Felder, Managing Director – India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives, Maersk.

Throwing a lifeline to container freight station (CFS) operators, the government is working on an alternative cargo evacuation model to replace the direct port delivery (DPD) scheme. The new system will restore the role of these intermediaries in the supply chain backed by an e-marketplace for truck trailers. “We are now trying to remodel our cargo evacuation system with the CFS as the fulcrum,” said Gopal Krishna, Shipping Secretary, Ministry of Shipping, in adding, “We are going back to the thinking that was prevalent in the late 1980s when this concept started that the CFS should take the burden of being the first repository of the boxes and thereafter cargo will move.”

India has urged Bangladesh to use Kolkata and Haldia ports for transhipment purposes. The initiative will reduce coastal shipping rates and boost bilateral trade, thereby shifting cargo from the costly land route, and create an opportunity for Bangladeshi garment exporters to reach European and American markets avoiding congestion at the Chittagong port. The proposal was reiterated at a ministerial meeting in Dhaka recently. Indian customs authorities have already cleared the deck for Bangladesh to use Haldia as a transhipment port. However, Bangladesh is yet to approve the same. At the crux of the proposal is the growing need to augment handling capacities on either side, keeping in tune with growing trade volumes.

Union Minister & Minister of Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation, Nitin Gadkari has informed that The National Waterway 1 on river Ganga is expected to see 21.89 million tonnes (MT) of cargo traffic in the next two to three years. “This will be on the back of government measures to promote inland water transport in the country,” he said. Besides, 13 standardised state-of-the-art ship designs have been drawn as part of efforts to boost river transport and remove any ambiguity on vessel sizes that can sail on Ganga, he added. “We have taken a slew of steps to promote inland water transport, which has been neglected so far. A study has projected traffic at 21.89 MT on National Waterway 1 (NW-1) by 2021,” Gadkari said. The cargo traffic on NW-1 was 5.5 MT in 2017-18. Currently, various projects underway on NW 1 have the terminal capacity of 13.62 MT and these include Varanasi, Haldia and Sahebganj multi-modal hubs, the minister further said. With the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) coming up with 13 vessel designs, this move would serve as an enabler for domestic shipbuilding industry working on inland vessels and open huge possibilities for cargo and passenger movement on NW-1. Source: PTI

To review the overall development of JNPT and cull out solutions to the challenges and create seamless facilities for the stakeholders, Sanjay Bandopadhyay, IAS, Add. Secretary, Ministry of Shipping (MOS), visited the port arena and held discussions with the JNPT chairman and other senior officials. The ministry is keen to focus on expansion of JNPT and development of various infrastructure projects such as SEZ, dry ports, road connectivity and harnessing modern technology to create positive environment for the trade. MOS is also concentrating on digitisation which can help Indian ports to be at par with the international markets.