BOT operators, who have invested heavily in Visakhapatnam and other ports, have stepped up their campaign for relaxation of Cabotage laws which deny them the opportunity to move cargo from one Indian port to another by foreign vessels.
As they believe that this is resulting in payment of heavy freight cost by their clients, they want the Ministry of Shipping should take the initiative to end forcible movement of EXIM cargo from one Indian port to another by routing them to an international transhipment hub like Singapore, Colombo or Dubai.
The present system leads to delays as well as increase in handling cost benefiting trans-shipment hubs with higher throughput and revenue.
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The Union government in its Maritime Agenda-2020 has already announced its plan to develop Visakhapatnam into a hub port on the East Coast and make it a gateway to South East Asia.
“The shipping lines as well as the BOT operators who invested heavy amounts in creation of world-class infrastructure will be benefited a lot if the Cabotage laws are relaxed allowing movement of cargo from one Indian port to another,” CEO of Vizag General Cargo Berth D.K. Manral told The Hindu.
“There is talk that Visakhapatnam will be transformed into a trans-shipment hub. What we need is at least consideration of relaxation on case to case basis till Indian shipping fleet is strengthened,” said veteran stevedore Garuda Pattabhiramayya of A.V. Bhanoji Row & Garuda Pattabhiramayya & Co.
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Visakhapatnam Port has already signed a concession agreement for extending the existing container terminal by Visakha Container Terminal Pvt. Ltd at a cost of Rs.633 crore to handle an additional cargo of 12 million tonne per annum. “The dream of making Visakhapatnam a hub port can be realised if the Cabotage law is relaxed at least for three years on the lines of relaxation extended to Vallardpadam Transhipment Terminal,” an official of VCTPL said.