MUMBAI, January 30: The Mumbai and Nhava-Sheva Ship-Intermodal Agents' Association (Mansa) and the Container Shipping Lines' Association (CSLA) have jointly appealed to the Tariff Authority for Major Ports (Tamp) to vacate the stay order on the operations of the buffer yard at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNP).According to a press communique issued by Mansa, the stoppage of operations at the buffer yard will have an adverse impact on exporters and their agents' ability to make containers ready for exports.
The association has pleaded to Tamp and JNPT to resolve the existing difficulties without disrupting work at the yard. "In the event that permanent closure of the buffer yard eventuates, it would be most regrettable and a retrograde step to the development of JNPT," stated the communique, adding that such a situation could dislocate the flow of exports to the terminal.
Tamp has reiterated its stay on the operations of the yard in its January 15 order following which the port decided to close the yardfrom February 1. JNPT also made it clear that containers complete in all respects will only be allowed entry in the port. It may be mentioned that the buffer yard permitted the entry of the factory-stuffed export containers which were not cleared by the customs authorities.
The associations have backed this policy of the JNPT.
According to them, the yard costing Rs 4 crore was set up after detailed discussions and agreement between representatives of the Bombay Customs House Agents' Association, All India Importers' and Exporters' Association, the Confederation of Indian Industry, the Indian Merchants' Chamber (IMC) and Western India Shippers' Association, Mansa and CSLA.
The 40,000 sq ft yard has acted to decongest the port and had a significant impact on port productivity. Vessel shut-outs have dropped by over 90 per cent representing a substantial saving in the port's resources, the communique stated.
In a separate press note issued by IMC, the chamber has welcomed the decision of the port to haltoperations at the yard as it imposed an additional handling/warehousing cost of around Rs 30 crore per annum on the exporting community.
"At a time when we need to make our exports more competitive in the global market, additional costs on account of buffer yard operations cannot but act as counter-productive to the growth of our exports," the press note added.
IMC has appealed to the port that entry of factory-stuffed containers should be permitted inside the docks without production of shipping bill, as is being done by the Mumbai Port Trust and also was done by JNPT till they started the buffer yard.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
