Private companies may soon be able to carry goods faster through the Indian waters, as the government is working on a plan to reduce the turnaround time in ports of the country. This will be done by creating a policy on allotting captive berths at major ports to privately-held firms, enabling them to utilise the given facilities exclusively for their own goods.
The initiative has been taken by the shipping ministry to give a level-playing field to private companies vis-?-vis the public sector. Some public sector undertakings (PSUs), especially fertiliser and oil companies already operate captive port terminals. However, even for PSUs there are not many captive terminals at major ports, Indian Ports Association managing director A Janardhana Rao told FE.
Such captive units result in lower berthing and turnaround time as ships don?t have to wait for berthing and goods can go straight out of the port if the company so requires. In addition to these benefits, facilities like warehouses can also be used by the firm.
The 13 major Indian ports suffer from long turnaround time for goods. As per Economic Survey 2009-10, the average turnaround time of major ports in the country was 3.87 days in 2008-09, against 10 hours in Hong Kong. In comparison to major ports, Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone-a minor port-has a turnaround time of close to two days.
Ships also have to wait for long before they get space to stop. According to the survey, average pre-berthing time at major ports was close to 10 hours.
?We have been getting demands for such captive port terminals from private players. They claim that such berths will let them handle their business better. We are considering the demands,? shipping secretary K Mohandas told FE.
Sources said the ministry is positive on creating such a policy and may come out with a draft soon. ?The demand is reasonable. When we are already giving captive berths to public sector firms, we can do the same for private players from steel, power and other sectors. Business needs are the same for all. Although the policy is still at the initial stage, we expect a final draft very soon,? another official in the ministry said.
The official said the ministry follows tendering process for allotting captive port terminals to public sector firms, but that can change. ?We can give terminals to PSUs without tender as they are public utilities. It is for the private companies that we have to think of a proper mechanism,? he said.