Seven steps taken by Modi government to improve business at major ports

NEW DELHI: In a reply in Lok Sabha, minister of state for shipping Radhakrishnan on Thursday highlighted various measures undertaken by the government to improve business at major ports.

These include:

1) Construction of new berths and terminals to enhance port capacity to minimise pre-berthing detention time and reduce turnaround time of vessels calling on the ports.

2) Modernising berths with state of the art loading/unloading equipment to improve operational efficiency.

3) Deepening of channels and berths so that ports can accommodate larger vessels.

4) Improving rail/road connectivity of Ports for speedy evacuation of cargo.

5) Implementation of Enterprise Resource Programme ( ERP) for internal automation and EDI-PCS for paperless interaction with stakeholders.

6) Installation of VTMS for monitoring vessels traffic and navigation support.

7) Simplification of processes to reduce transaction time at Ports.

According to Radhakrishnan, "Necessary modifications in the Tariff Guidelines are made from time to time to promote the development of the Major Ports, keeping in view the interest of the various stakeholders."

In order to allow the competitive market forces to play a greater role in determination of tariff at major ports trusts, the government issued two new sets of Tariff Guidelines namely Guidelines for Determination of Tariff for Projects at Major Ports, 2013 and Guidelines for Port Charges, 2015.

These guidelines impart flexibility to the PPP operators as well as major ports owned terminals in determining their tariff.