Once known for its inefficiency in the maritime world, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) is on a roll.
Vessels no longer have to wait for seven days, as they did 15 years ago, before being tugged in for berthing, nor are containers waiting for a fortnight to get dispatched.
What started as a mini step to help improve India’s ‘ease of doing business’ World Bank ranking, has turned out to be a transformational journey for JNPT, India’s biggest container port that handles about 55 per cent of the country’s container traffic.
The World Bank, which rates countries for the level of convenience they provide to international businesses, has pegged JNPT’s overall performance among other parameters to India’s ranking.
India which was ranked 142nd in the ‘ease of doing business’ list in 2014, has improved its performance to 130 in 2016 due to various initiatives undertaken by the Union Government..
India is seeking to be among the top 50 countries by 2019 and JNPT has taken up this task seriously. Besides, it has to contend with intense completion from other ports in the western region.
Complete change JNPT, which has three other terminals operated by APM Terminal and DP World besides its own terminal, is changing the way it functions.
Old barriers that hindered businesses are breaking down, archaic practices are being junked and efforts are on to simplify procedures. It is removing bottlenecks and reducing human interfaces to achieve global benchmarks and provide seamless services to users.
Best practices It is also adopting best business practices to stay relevant in changing times.
The wind of change is evident. In the last one year it has undertaken several initiatives to streamline the processes and make it easier for port users to do business.
“The various measures implemented are focused towards reduction of documentation process, time and cost for faster and economical operations at the port,” said Neeraj Bansal (IRS), Deputy Chairman, JNPT. “As a result of these initiatives, the average import dwell time at JN Port has reduced to 1.5 days which is comparable to the international benchmark of 1.2 days.
Similarly, the average export dwell time has reduced to 65 hours from 88 hours earlier following reduction in the gate-opening duration from average 5.5 days to 4 days,” he said.
Mr. Bansal said his objective was to achieve an export dwell time of 36 hours compared to the global average of 55 hours. Singapore is the best with a dwell time of 12 hours.
“Our import cycle is comparable to any international port. But the main challenge is the exports side,” said Mr. Bansal, adding that due to various efforts the port had achieved a quick turnaround time of 1.27 days per ship.
“We are reducing human interface. We don’t want people to hang around to get approvals. Everything is moving to online and automatic approvals,” he said.
JNPT, which started with single terminal with 1.35 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), has over the years increased the port capacity to 5.15 million TEUs. This includes the capacity of three terminals operated by APM Terminal (1.8 million TEUs) and DP World (1.2 million TEUs and 0.8 million TEUs). Besides this, oil companies operate a 6.6 million-tonliquid cargo terminal.
In 2014, the port signed an agreement with Singapore Authority (PSA) for a new terminal with a capacity of 4.8 million TEUs. The first phase of this Rs.8,000-crore project is slated for commissioning in 2017.
“By 2022, we will almost double our capacity and will be handling over 10 million TEUs. Recently, we deepened the channel from 11 to 14 metres allowing bigger ships to come and now we are investing Rs.2,000 crore to deepen the channel to 15 metres and widening the navigational channel,” said Mr. Bansal.
At Nhava Sheva, where JNPT is located, massive road infrastructure expansion work is underway for faster movement of cargo.
Dedicated freight corridor A sum of Rs.200 crore is being invested in a dedicated freight corridor for quick transportation of containers. A port-based SEZ is being set up.
JNPT’s quest is to figure among the top 10 container ports globally. Today, it ranks 31st globally.
Sabyasachi Hajara, Chief Advisor of shipping line Elektrans Global, who earlier worked as Chairman and Managing Director of Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) said: “JNPT is the most important port in India. With ambitious expansion plans, it will maintain its pre-eminence in the country for long.”
“However, JNPT has been pegged with problems of connectivity as well as draft and has taken up a number of projects to obviate the same,” he adds.
Road connectivity “The better road connectivity has already improved vessels’ pre-berthing and turn round time though we still lag behind world’s most efficient terminals like Singapore, Hong Kong and Colombo in terms of these parameters,” said Mr. Hajara. “In view of the projects already taken, the pre-berthing period for container vessels has come down from nearly 3 days to just about 1 day.
“The present turnaround time has also improved substantially and presently stands at around 1.5 days,” he added.
Mumbai And Nhava-Sheva Ship Agents Associations (MANSA) President Captain Vivek Singh Anand said: “Congestion in terms of container movement to hinterland, as also in terms of documentation for vessel operations and clearance, are still areas of concern.”
“These can be overcome through implementation of cargo community systems. This is a global practice and if implemented, could reduce the transaction time from days to a few hours,” he added.
To deal with frequent worker unrest, the government could bring ports and terminal related services under the ambit of Essential Services Maintenance Act, he said.
“There has been lot of effort by the port authorities to reduce the waiting time. They are working with lot of interest with trade bodies to improve situation. It is easy to criticise. But when something good is happening, we must appreciate,” said Captain Anand.
