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Ports & Shipping News

India Infrastructure PublishingB-17, Qutab Institutional AreaNew Delhi 110016Tel: 91-11-4103 4600 / 4601Fax: 91-11-2653 1196E-mail: info@indiainfrastructure.com

August 15, 2011 August 21, 2011

Ports The Ministry of Shipping (MoS) has set up a four-member team to finalise a policy on captive ports,

which is likely to take a month . Under the draft policy, companies in the port-based industry which aredependent on port facilities for their business, especially for importing raw material or exporting products, willbe eligible to set up captive ports. According to sources, MoS, which has received various comments andobjections to the proposed policy, will try to address those concerns before the final policy is drafted. Thepolicy was primarily mooted in 1996 as part of a notification for allowing private participation in the port sector.In the absence of clear guidelines and definitions, the government decided to put in place a separate policyfor captive berths in 2008.

Meanwhile, MoS has engaged The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) to review the tariffguidelines of 2005 . The terms of reference (ToR) for the study are provided in the ministrys website.Stakeholders can offer their views and comments on the issues covered under the ToR by September 20,2011.

The Government of India (GoI) is planning to set up a new major port in the state of Andhra Pradesh which will be second to Visakhapatnam port. The Indian Maritime University was entrusted to study thefeasibility of relocation of the fishing harbour on the beach road.

Meanwhile, GoI has offered to develop one major port each in the seven coastal states during theTwelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17). The estimated cost of investment ranges between Rs 180 billion and Rs200 billion during the five-year period. According to sources, under the proposed project, the stategovernments will have to play the role of a facilitator to ensure land for developing such facilities and the GoIwill need to spend Rs 25 billion or more to develop each port.

The Government of Kerala has decided to develop the Vizhinjam port in Kerala under a landlordport m odel. As per the arrangement, the government/Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited will develop thebasic infrastructure requirements for the port like breakwater, quay wall, dredging and reclamation, andexternal connectivity (road, rail and utilities) through an engineering-procurement-construction (EPC) contractand the private partner (port operator) will construct the superstructure for the port operations and the terminaland operate and maintain it for a period of 30 years. The request for qualification (RfQ) for the port operatorwas published through a global notification. A total of 14 applications were received and reviewed by theproject advisors, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and evaluated by the Empowered Committee andthe recommendation to prequalify 12 bidders was accepted by the state government. From the 12 pre-qualified bidders to whom the request for proposal (RfP) and draft concession agreement was given onFebruary 18, 2011, only two bidders a c onsortium of Welspun Infratech Limited, Welspun CorporationLimited and Leighton Welspun Contractors (India) Private Limited and the Mundra Port and Special EconomicZone Limited submitted their bids. The technical bids, which were opened on August 16, 2011, will bescrutinised for responsiveness and compliance to RfP. On completion of the technical evaluation, the financialbids will be opened.

The new customer facilitation centre has been inaugurated at the Cochin Port Trust . The facilitationcentre will serve as a single-point contact to provide customers with authentic guidance on different servicesfrom various divisions of the port trust. The facilitation centre has a conference kiosk.

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is planning to set up two greenfield ports in Gujarat and Orissa respectively. The project is at an initial stage of planning. According to sources, the company has zeroed inon a site in Gujarat, but it is planning to finalise the location in Orissa in the second quarter of 2012-13.Meanwhile, L&T is planning a second phase of expansion at the Dhamra port in Orissa, which is a jointventure (JV) with Tata Steel Limited. The port, which has been operational since May 2011, is soon expectedto be formally commissioned.

All the 12 major port s in India are witnessing a steady increase in cargo traffic every year but postinga decline in efficiency . The major ports have registered an increase in average pre-berthing time andaverage turnaround time of vessels. The major ports recorded 1.61 per cent increase in average pre-berthing

time to 11.96 hours during 2010-11 against 11.77 hours in 2009-10. The maximum increase of 111.11 percent was seen at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), the third largest port in the country in terms oftraffic handled. The major ports also had a 5.69-per cent rise in average turnaround time to 4.64 days during2010-11 against 4.39 days in 2009-10. JNPT registered an increase of 32.18 per cent, the highest among anymajor port.

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