Load factor

Mumbai, July 5: A storm is brewing at the ports as shipping firms and the Indian Merchants' Chamber (IMC) cry foul over a move to entrust the Concor-Maersk combine with the job of setting up a new container terminal.

The eye of the storm is Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), where the consortium has won the bid for setting up the third terminal. Maersk is the largest shipping line in the world, while Concor is the sole inland provider of container movement on the railways.

The shipping firms' grouse is that Concor, which made a net profit of Rs 250 crore last year, is diversifying into allied businesses instead of focusing on its core competence.

The shipping firms’ grouse is that Concor, which made a net profit of Rs 250 crore last year, is diversifying into allied businesses instead of focusing on its core competencies.

Instead of investing in bolstering its fleet of high-speed rakes and reducing congestion in the ports, Concor is investing in allied activities, the shipping firms said.

“Our objection is to the creation of a monopoly,” IMC Logistics Management & Infrastructure (Transport) Committee chairman Mark S. Fernandes said. “With the largest shipping line and the only rail carrier working together, we are at the mercy of a monopoly,” Western India Shippers’ Association secretary S. R. L. Narashimhan said. They fear that the two monopolies will concentrate in the third terminal and leave the others “high and dry”.

Exporters are ready with the containers but ships are leaving without them, added Fernandes.

“We need competition,” IMC president Nanik Rupani said. Concor offers 9 to 10 rakes, each carrying 52 containers to the hinterland. The two terminals owned by JNPT and P& together need at least 14 rakes to clear all backlogs. However, Concor’s inability to provide the rakes required has caused the congestion, they added.

“With the sheer volume that Maersk is handling, we don’t want an Maersk Line terminal,” the members warned. “Allow us to ply our own rakes by letting the private sector invest,” Fernandes added. There are conflicts of interests, the IMC members said.

The problem created by the congestion is that the shipping firms have to bear the costs of delay and even lose business.

Ships leave the ports without loading containers as they make money by sailing and not by anchoring at ports, the firms said.

According to the firms, the uncleared containers have now resulted in the boxes spilling over to the roadside at JNPT. We have to think big now, said Rupani. The unimaginable delays would cost Indian exports heavily and this is not in national interest, he added.