Saturated Indian ports battle congestion

SA services coping for now THE INDIAN port system of 12 major ports is at saturation point, according to a financial expert in that country, and needs to more than double capacity to handle an expected surge in trade volumes. While the Indian economy has grown at an annual average of 6.1% over the past five years, Sanjay Sinha, director of credit-rating agency CRISIL, told the SouthAsia Logistics News that it was now in an 8% per annum phase. This fits with the government expectations of a growth rate of between 8% and 10% over the next decade. But while this growth is forecast, the ports are already using 98% of their entire capacity to process annual shipments - compared to 60% to 65% at most ports worldwide, said Sinha. “We expect the (freight) demand to continue to grow over the next 10 years,” he added – estimating that the ports would need to increase capacity by 2.3 times to cope with the volume surge. The near-saturation of ports means ships now wait up to nine to 10 hours before berthing. Slow computerisation is impeding the operational efficiency of Indian ports, while wages in key ports such as Mumbai and Chennai account for more than half the cost of operation - whereas the ratio is less than a sixth at more efficient ports, according to Sinha. But there’s no major problem yet for ships on the SA-India trade, said Durban-based Cheryl Naidoo of MSC. “We do experience some delays,” she told FTW, “but nothing which worries us too badly.” The company certainly doesn’t use Nava Sheva because of big delays at that port, but these don’t have that much effect on its container traffic through the chosen port of Mumbai - India’s largest for container traffic. Indeed, the head of the port told a news agency that an expansion of facilities would more than cover a 15% growth in 2006 volumes, and container traffic in 2007 could grow by 20%. “We will be able to increase our container traffic as we are in the process of setting up a new terminal,” Ravi Bhushan Budhiraja of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust said.