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India urges transshipments on east coast ports
来源： 编辑：编辑部 发布：2018/07/09 09:19:50
THE government of India is calling on major public ports on the east coast to create immediate plans to recapture Indian cargo transshipped at Sri Lanka's port of Colombo and Singapore.
According to government officials, the ports of VO Chidambaranar (Tuticorin),Visakhapatnam and Cochin have the potential to transform themselves into "transshipment hubs," thereby boosting their freight handling, reported IHS Media.
Officials also said the port of Haldia should explore measures to attract freight from Bangladesh via inland waterway options for transshipment.
With the cabotage law change announced on May 21, foreign shipping lines can transport laden export-import containers for transshipment and empty containers for repositioning between Indian ports without any specific permission or license.
Although it is still too soon to tell if the policy reform alone ?without addressing pricing and infrastructure issues ?would pave the way for more direct mainline calls at major ports, stakeholders believe that trade would benefit from improved service offerings as competition hots up.
Transshipment trade is particularly a high-stakes game for DP World's International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) at Cochin, but the Dubai-based operator views high port charges as a major deterrent to carriers seeking to deploy large vessels on Indian trades.
"To attract the next generation deep-draft vessels, additional steps need to be taken - such as competitive marine charges - as other hubs like Colombo enjoy pricing flexibility and offer more competitive rates compared to Indian ports," company officials previously told IHS Media.
Statistics collected by IHS Media reflect ICTT's continuing transshipment volume struggles, despite steady overall growth. Out of 555,812 TEU handled in fiscal 2017-2018, DP World Cochin's transshipment freight represented 35,363 TEU compared with 491,087 TEU and 31,498 TEU, respectively, in the previous year.
India's ongoing plans to develop a dedicated transshipment hub at Enayem could pressure DP World Cochin's market share ambitions in the coming years. The hub is near Colachel, within Tamil Nadu and Adani Ports' under-construction Vizhinjam project, just 140 miles from Cochin. Its first phase is designed to handle 1.8 million TEU annually and is due to commence operations in 2019.
Much of the Indian east coast cargo is currently transshipped, with Colombo commanding the largest pie, followed by Singapore, Port Klang and Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates.The primary reason for this is that most eastern ports lack the necessary infrastructure and sufficient gateway cargo to woo mainline calls, relegating them to feeder handling.
According to government officials, the ports of VO Chidambaranar (Tuticorin),Visakhapatnam and Cochin have the potential to transform themselves into "transshipment hubs," thereby boosting their freight handling, reported IHS Media.
Officials also said the port of Haldia should explore measures to attract freight from Bangladesh via inland waterway options for transshipment.
With the cabotage law change announced on May 21, foreign shipping lines can transport laden export-import containers for transshipment and empty containers for repositioning between Indian ports without any specific permission or license.
Although it is still too soon to tell if the policy reform alone ?without addressing pricing and infrastructure issues ?would pave the way for more direct mainline calls at major ports, stakeholders believe that trade would benefit from improved service offerings as competition hots up.
Transshipment trade is particularly a high-stakes game for DP World's International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) at Cochin, but the Dubai-based operator views high port charges as a major deterrent to carriers seeking to deploy large vessels on Indian trades.
"To attract the next generation deep-draft vessels, additional steps need to be taken - such as competitive marine charges - as other hubs like Colombo enjoy pricing flexibility and offer more competitive rates compared to Indian ports," company officials previously told IHS Media.
Statistics collected by IHS Media reflect ICTT's continuing transshipment volume struggles, despite steady overall growth. Out of 555,812 TEU handled in fiscal 2017-2018, DP World Cochin's transshipment freight represented 35,363 TEU compared with 491,087 TEU and 31,498 TEU, respectively, in the previous year.
India's ongoing plans to develop a dedicated transshipment hub at Enayem could pressure DP World Cochin's market share ambitions in the coming years. The hub is near Colachel, within Tamil Nadu and Adani Ports' under-construction Vizhinjam project, just 140 miles from Cochin. Its first phase is designed to handle 1.8 million TEU annually and is due to commence operations in 2019.
Much of the Indian east coast cargo is currently transshipped, with Colombo commanding the largest pie, followed by Singapore, Port Klang and Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates.The primary reason for this is that most eastern ports lack the necessary infrastructure and sufficient gateway cargo to woo mainline calls, relegating them to feeder handling.