The Jawaharlal Nehru Port has become the latest in India to face increased pressure amid global supply chain disruptions due to the war in the Gulf, which is nearing three months.
This comes just a month after the Vizhinjam Port faced similar issues due to the war, when 100 Gulf-bound vessels from eight international operators queued up for a berth at the Thiruvananthapuram-based port.
However, the port was unable to make full use of the increased traffic due to a severe shortage of space—the port's container berth, measuring 800m (under phase one), is currently capable of berthing two mother ships—or four feeder vessels—at a time, which, back in April, was almost entirely booked by international shipping giant Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC).
The Jawaharlal Nehru Port—also located on India's western coast—is a crucial destination for crude oil and petroleum imports from the Gulf, in addition to re-routed cargo headed for the Middle East.
In fact, the congestion at India's largest container port (by capacity) led to the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) collaborating with other ministries to help ease container traffic at Nhava Sheva.
In a high-level meeting with representatives of the All India Liquid Bulk Importers and Exporters Association, Union Minister Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, and Union Minister, MoPSW, Sarbananda Sonowal, reviewed the status of immediate and long-term measures to ease traffic at the port.
In that regard, a number of containers were evacuated via rail to nearby Container Freight Stations (CFSs) equipped with railway sidings, while the simultaneous scanning of double containers was introduced to reduce processing time.
The shipping ministry also waived Intern-Terminal Railway Handling Operation (ITRHO) charges and Change of Mode of Transport charges, in addition to port terminals extending waivers and discounts on ground rent charges on a case-to-case basis.
Dedicated green channels for empty trailers were also established across terminals to facilitate faster turnaround times. Leading CFS operators also pooled nearly 100 trailers to lift entire container stacks, enabling the evacuation of long-pending and buried containers from congested yards.
These efforts were said to have reduced the number of relatively old containers lying at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port's terminals.
"Guided by a 'Whole of Government' approach, we are taking coordinated and proactive measures across ports and logistics systems to sustain Ease of Doing Business (EoDB), strengthen supply chain resilience and build a globally competitive maritime ecosystem in line with the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Viksit Bharat,” Sonowal said at the meeting.
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