Since November 2010, the Chennai Port Trust (ChPT) has been witnessing long haul trailers lined up for miles to get into the container terminals through its zero gate.
The container-laden vehicles got stuck at various points leading up to ChPT main gate (zero gate) owing to shortage of customs officials for seal verification, reduced number of entry points and stoppage of vehicles at different points by traffic police and other agencies.
Having been forced to stay put on the road for hours together, truckers vented their ire on those who stopped their vehicles - be it traffic police or officials at the zero gate. Some of them were stopped for not possessing valid export documents. A flash strike led to piling up of containers and imposition of surcharge by shipping lines.
The congestion led to haphazard parking of vehicles, affecting the movement of office-goers and residents of north Chennai. The congestion also led to diversion of containers and other commodities to nearby ports such as Krishnapatnam (granite), Karaikal, Kakinada, Visakhapatnam (iron ore), Kamarajar (coal), L&T Kattupalli and VO Chidambaranar Port Trust and led to a dip in the ChPT’s volume for the last two years.
Shipping Minister G.K. Vasan laid the foundation stone for the Ennore Manali Road Improvement Project in January 2011 to widen the road and facilitate easy movement of trucks to improve the volume. Even after three years, the National Highways Authority of India was able to complete only 80 per cent of the project as it faces hurdles in quite a few spots.
Talking to The Hindu , a port user said, “Even now, congestion delays movement of vessels. This problem can be solved either by providing enough parking space inside the port complex for those who do not possess export documents or activating the Tiruvottiyur Parking Yard .”
“In the last two years, ChPT’s revenue loss has increased several fold. The only option for the port is to look for alternative projects, seek co-operation of the State government to clear the bottlenecks at entry points and consult stakeholders on a regular basis to improve revenue. Besides, port officials have to be proactive,” said a ChPT trustee.
