The Kolkata Port Trust?s navigational constraint is draining out the country?s foreign exchange reserves with at least 60 ships claiming huge demurrage in US dollars being unable to get berths.
Although the country?s foreign exchange reserves, according to the Reserve Bank of India?s weekly statistical supplement, has increased for the fourth consecutive week and has touched $255.24 billion as on January 2, pressures still remain as export earning has started falling.
KoPT officials told FE that at least 60 ships of various foreign shipping lines are waiting at the Sandheads on the Bay of Bengal, 70 nautical miles downstream of the Haldia Dock Complex. Both exporters and importers have to pay an average demurrage of $10,000 per day for each ship waiting and 60 ships on an average have been stranded regularly for the last one month, though at times there are vacant berths at the port.
This is bound to put pressure on the country?s foreign exchange reserve.
According to officials of the Haldia Dock Complex, that handles 80% of KoPT?s total cargo, the problem has cropped up from non-availability of tugboats and pilots coupled with low draught of Haldia navigational channels.
KoPT, the country?s only riverine port, requires at least 10 tugboats and 75 pilots to guide ships from the Sandheads to Haldia dock through the riverine shipping lanes, full of sand and silt bars. Without the help of pilots and tugs, it is impossible for ships to get a passage into the Haldia port because ships may get stuck in any of the silt bars or at the river bed, if it chooses to navigate alone.
But at present KoPT has only four, two fully and two partially functional tugboats and 55 pilots, which have come as a great troubleshooter for the country?s second largest port ( in terms of cargo handling).
According to AK Bagchi, director (marine), the tugboats are under repair and with the boats becoming operational there would be normalcy in the situation.
He, however, could not say that when the boats would become operational. In fact, KoPT has no plans as yet to procure new tugboats, although it registered a net surplus of Rs 503 crore in 2007-08.
RK Burman, secretary, Haldia Dock Officers? Forum, said for the past two years, the position of general manager (operations), which is supposed to take care of tug procurement, hiring and repairing, is lying vacant. Although the HDC authorities have been asking to fill up the position and also recruit pilots, ?the highest authority in the KoPT sat on the file for more than a year.?
?Now that it has been forwarded to the shipping ministry, the ministry is not bothering to clear it,? Burman said.
Top notch KoPT officials said there has been continuous pressures from the shipping ministry to cut down on cost and the ministry has not been apprising the proposal of fresh recruitment though it has hampered operations.
In fact, KoPT has rationalised its manpower from a level of 17,154 in 1998-1999 to 10,000 in 2008-09, of which Haldia has only 3000 at present.
Officials said for political reasons, the ministry wants KoPT business to go to some other ports but KoPT has to serve the entire east, northeast, Nepal and Bhutan and no other port is actually viable for cargoes from and to these places.