Sea Views: Indian port competition hots up

According to Exim News service, India's Eastern ports are gearing up to compete with one another to grab a larger share of the growing container trade and bulk cargo handling business.

In particular, trade is expected to surge with China and other South East Asian countries in the near future. To this end, these ports are reducing port and vessel-related charges to attract mainline vessels.

Chennai and Kolkata Ports are trying to wean away North Indian ICD boxes from JN Port. The newly-built Visakha Container Terminal is initially concentrating on Andhra Pradesh and the neighbouring region while Tuticorin Port in the far South is indulging in aggressive marketing to attract more textiles, garments, hosiery goods and engineering products from the Tirupur-Coimbatore-Bangalore industrial belt.

Paradip Port, a predominantly bulk cargo handling Port, has even started handling containers even though, at present, it has no container terminal. The Port exports about 850 TEUs of aluminium metal and the authorities expect that other minerals mined in Orissa will also be exported in containers through Paradip.

Neighbouring Andhra Pradesh is eyeing Chennai's iron ore trade and has formed a railroad corporation jointly with the Hyderabad-based Natco Group to move iron ore from the Bellary mines in Andhra to the proposed Krishnapatnam port, which will compete with a proposed iron-ore terminal at Ennore Port.

Another competitor in the iron ore trade is the Kakinada deep-water port managed by private operator, Kakinada Seaports Ltd. This company has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with some companies to export five million tonnes of iron ore to China.

While Chennai Container Terminal (CCT) faces competition from Visakha Container Terminal, Visakhapatnam Port will have to contend with a new port coming up at nearby Gangavaram.

The ports are also competing for the oil trade. The coal Port of Paradip will soon enter into oil transportation. An oil jetty constructed at a cost of Rs500 million is set to handle petroleum products. As the 12.7-metre draft berth can accommodate 68,000 DWT tankers, Paradip Port may emerge as a tough competitor to Visakhapatnam and Kakinada Ports.

DSC to get software for fleet management
Star Information Systems (SIS) has won a contract to provide Dubai Shipping Company (DSC) with a comprehensive fleet management system to be installed on DSC's nine vessels and at its Dubai head office.

The system will provide DSC with a comprehensive range of software and services, including maintenance, spare parts/purchasing, budget, crew/payroll, ISM/quality assurance elements, ship performance management and an interface to link purchasing with DSC's existing ERP, Oracle Financials.

Pollution compensation
The European Commission (EC) has issued a press release encouraging member states to adhere to the new international protocol establishing a supplementary compensation fund in the event of marine oil spillage.

The maximum compensation available to victims would be approximately one billion euros under the new rules, which have yet to be enforced.

IMO establishes first Asian office
The IMO has initiated a milestone, last week, with the inauguration of its first office in the Asian region, specifically for East Asia, and follows the successful establishment of three regional presence offices in Africa.

Speaking in Manila to open the office, IMO Assistant Secretary-General Efthimios Mitropoulos noted that it was not a coincidence that IMO's regional presence should be located in what is both a major port and a major centre of seafarers' supply to the world's merchant fleet.

The IMO regional co-ordinator for East Asian sub-region will be Brenda Pimentel, who was previously the overseas shipping director of the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) in the Philippines.

Frank Kennedy is a Dubai-based marine consultant