Govt took many initiatives to improve port governance: Survey

The government has taken many initiatives to improve port governance, augment capacity utilisation, enhance port efficiency and connectivity, the Economic Survey 2021-22 said on Monday.




Noting that port performance in an economy is crucial for trade competitiveness, the Survey said expansion of port capacity has been accorded the highest priority by the government through implementation of well-conceived infrastructure development projects.

“Port performance in an economy is crucial for trade competitiveness of that economy…Many initiatives have been taken by the government to improve port governance, augment capacity utilization, enhance port efficiency and connectivity,” it said.

With the objective of propelling India to the forefront of the Global Maritime Sector, the Survey said the Maritime India Vision 2030 (MIV 2030), a blueprint to ensure coordinated and accelerated growth of India’s maritime sector in the next decade was released in March 2021.

MIV 2030 estimates that development of Indian ports will drive cost savings of Rs 6,000-7,000 crore per annum for EXIM clients, it said.

According to the Survey, the capacity of 13 major ports which was 871.52 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) at the end of March 2014, has increased by 79 per cent to 1,560.61 MTPA by the end of March 2021.

It said traffic handled at these ports was to the tune of 672.68 MT during 2020-21, which was 4.6 per cent lower than that in the previous year on account of the worldwide disruptions in international trade due to the pandemic.

The Survey said the average turnaround time at these major ports has reduced from 62.11 hours in 2019-20 to 55.99 hours in 2020-21 due to the various measures taken by the government to improve the ease of doing business.

It pointed out that hit by disruptions caused by COVID-19, cargo traffic at India’s ports decreased by 5.4 per cent during 2020-21, to 1,246.86 MT from 1,317.73 MT during 2019-20.

The Economic Survey said port traffic has picked up in 2021-22 so far, registering a growth rate of 10.16 per cent during April-November 2021 over the same period last year.

During the first eight months of 2021-22, ports handled total traffic of around 858.3 MT, as compared to 779.2 MT in the corresponding period of the previous year, it said.

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According to the Survey, major ports handled traffic of around 465.4 million tonnes during April-November 2021, growing by 12 per cent over same period last year. Almost all major ports (except SMP Kolkata, Vizag and Mormugoa ports) recorded high growth in traffic, partly reflecting a rebound from the low base during the same time last year.

Highlighting shipping container shortage and rising trade costs, it said the shortage of containers has also impacted the Indian sea trade.

According to the Federation of Indian Export Organisation set up under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the lack of containers has resulted in rising sea freight rates in the range of 300 per cent to 350 per cent.

Further, the production of the new containers has slowed since 2019, it said, adding that simultaneously, a rise in the disposal of containers has also been observed for the same period.

The overall growth in the containers has fallen from 11 per cent in 2019 to 5 per cent in 2021.

Unless the production is ramped up significantly across the globe, this will remain a persistent problem, it noted.

The Survey said the stress in the container shortages can be captured in the Drewry’s Composite World Container Index.

Also, it said the freight prices on major global sea routes have observed an upward trend during the same period.