West Asia crisis: take center stage
The central government is taking steps to ease container movement at JNPA amid growing global supply chain challenges due to the West Asia crisis, an official statement said on Friday.
The statement further said that Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Sarbananda Sonowal reviewed global supply chain challenges with EXIM industry stakeholders.
According to the statement, measures such as rail clearance, waiver of handling charges, green channel and trailer pooling have been initiated to maintain ease of doing business (EODB).
The statement noted that the Government of India has initiated a coordinated “whole of government” response to address the concerns raised by the EXIM community.
Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Union Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal held a high-level meeting with representatives of All India Liquid Bulk Importers and Exporters Association to review the emerging situation and discuss immediate and long-term measures to minimize operational disruptions for smooth and faster cargo movement.
The meeting focused on better container movement as Gulf bound containers have also been shifted to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA), putting additional pressure on the port and logistics infrastructure.
Responding quickly to the situation, the statement said JNPA implemented a series of operational interventions to relieve terminals and expedite cargo clearance.
“Containers were also transported through rail traffic to nearby container freight stations (CFS) equipped with railway sidings, while simultaneous scanning of double containers was introduced to reduce processing time,” it said.
To provide relief to trade stakeholders, Inter-Terminal Railway Handling Operation (ITRHO) charges and change in mode of transport charges have been waived off, the statement said.
Port terminals have also extended exemptions and rebates on ground rental charges on a case-by-case basis.
According to the statement, dedicated green channels for empty trailers were set up at the terminals to facilitate faster turnaround.
In another major initiative, leading CFS operators mobilized around 100 trailers to lift the entire container stack, thereby helping in evacuation of long pending and buried containers from congested yards. These coordinated efforts have led to significant improvements in yard management, reducing the number of relatively old containers lying at the terminals.
As part of the long-term resilience strategy, JNPA has also outlined a comprehensive roadmap to strengthen logistics preparedness and future cargo handling capabilities.
These measures include intensified efforts by CFS operators and transporters to increase driver availability, increased cargo clearance through railways and engagement with motor driving training schools to create a larger pool of trained trailer drivers, the statement said.
