Tuesday, April 30, 2013

“My dream is to turn JNPT into a hub port”

Luxman Radhakrishnan, Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, on the potential of JNPT becoming a trans-shipment hub and how it will benefit Indian trade

B&E: Can JNPT be turned into a trans-shipment hub? 
Luxman Radhakrishnan (LR): JNPT is a major and sensitive port for Indian trade. Last year about 56% of the country’s total volume of container handling was done through JNPT. Since JNPT is a major port on the western coast, it can also be developed as a trans-shipment port.   

B&E: What is being done to make JNPT a trans-shipment hub? 
LR: The Ministry of Shipping has identified JNPT and Kochi as hub ports on the west coast and Chennai and Vishakhapatnam on the east coast. In order to make JNPT a major hub for India-related shipping, the depth of the Mumbai-JNPT channel will first be dredged to 14 metres and then to 17-metres depth. In order to be fuel-efficient and competitive it is important for ships to be very large and this requires a hub port to have depth. My dream is to bring big ships to JNPT and turn it into a hub port, and I expect to see it happen in this decade itself. 

B&E: How will Indian trade benefit from JNPT becoming a hub port? 
LR:  It will ensure larger capacity mother vessels to call at JNPT with bigger parcel sizes. This will lead to higher productivity for the terminal operators as well as ensure savings for importers and exporters. The latter will be able to avoid trans-shipment charges and extra freight they have to pay to feeder vessels by bringing the cargo directly to JNPT in the mother ships. In the process, we will be able to save 80% of the trans-shipment revenues that currently goes to Colombo.

B&E: When do you plan to start the dredging?
LR:  The dredging to 14 metres depth for the first phase should take about 24 months to complete (from the time the work starts). As soon as the first phase is completed, we should be ready with the detailed project report. We even have the necessary clearances to take the work ahead for the second phase. The dredging for the second phase will be to 17 metres depth.
 
B&E: What are the average pre-berthing waiting time and turnaround time at JN Port?
LR:  During fiscal 2011-12, the average pre-berthing time has decreased to 8 hours 24 min. from 13 hours 40 min. in 2010-11. Even the turnaround time has been reduced to 36 hours in 2011-12 from 41 hours 2 minutes.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
 
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles
 
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,