MANU/PIBU/0495/2016

Department/Board : Press Information Bureau

Date : 20.06.2016

New Berthing Policy for Dry Bulk Cargo for Major Ports in Place from 20th August 2016

Ministry of Shipping has formulated a new Berthing Policy for Dry Bulk Cargo for all Major Ports which will come into effect from 20th August, 2016. The objective of the new Berthing Policy is to:

• Provide a standardized framework for calculation of norms, specific to the commodity handled and the infrastructure available on the berth

• Design norms with the objective of driving higher productivity and achieving near-design capacity of the available equipments/infrastructure in order to:

^o Reduce berthing time & overall turn-around time of ships; drive higher cargo throughput using the available infrastructure in the Major Ports.

^o Improve utilization of port assets and create additional capacity without any significant capital investment.

^o Increase competitiveness of the Major Port by creating value for the trade through reduced logistics cost.

• Reassess the capacity of the berths based on the expected performance of the berth equipments and vessels derived from performance norms.

• Standardize anchorage charges across Major Ports to reduce turnaround time.

All the Major Ports will be holding trade meetings between 1st July to 18th July, 2016 to sensitize the norms, incentives, penalties & charges to be implemented. The policy will be implemented by all Major Ports by 20th August, 2016.

Background

Dry bulk cargo currently makes up >26% of the cargo handled at the 12 major ports. Furthermore growth in coastal shipping is expected to add ~100-150 MMTPA of additional dry bulk cargo at ports by 2020-25. Recent benchmarking of ports' performance across key dry bulk commodities has identified significant scope for improvement of productivities in-comparison to best-in-class peers. The low productivity has contributed to high turn-around times in addition to resulting in higher berth ........