association of multimodal transport...
TRANSCRIPT
ASSOCIATION OF MULTIMODAL TRANSPORT OPERATORS OF INDIA
Weekly News 08.11.2013—14.11.2013 Volume 1, Issue 33 Inside this issue:
Delegation under ministry of shipping to visit Japan 1 RBI allows third-party payment for export & import 1
Shipping Ministry's efforts to reduce Port logistic costs by introduc-
ing mid Sea Cargo operation by using Barges and Floating Cranes
2
Major Ports should look for alternative cargoes to tackle negative
traffic growth, says WTWF 3
India to open first ICP along Bangladesh border 3 India and Japan to strengthen ties in shipping sector 4 Plea for major port sought at Ramaiahpatnam in Prakasam 4 B K Mandal to hold additional charge of CMD SCI 4 Antwerp port investing in top-notch infrastructure 5 Minister of Railways launches dual cab freight diesel locomotive ‘Vijay’
5
Richa Industries order book touches Rs 100 cr 5 Water transport workers wor-ried over negative growth in ports
6
Maersk: Container shipping showing early signs of rebound 6 GE Shipping’s net surges 97.8 pc
6 Aviation insurance to emerge as growing segment in General Insurance sector
7
Packing & securing cargo in con-tainers seen as larger problem 7
More funds required for eastern corridor: DFCC 7
Humor 8
A delegation under the leadership of G.K. Vasan, minister of shipping will be visiting Japan from November 7 to November 12, on the invitation of Akihiro Ohta, minister of land, infrastructure
transport and tourism, government of Japan.
The proposed visit will enhance the India-Japanese cooperation and give a fillip to better coordination and cooperation between the two countries in the shipping sector. Expertise of Japanese in port operations, ship recycling and shipbuilding will be utilized by the Indian ports and shipyards, a statement from the VOC Port Trust at Tuticorin said. The delegation includes Vishwapati Trivedi, IAS, secretary (Shipping), R Srinivasa Naik, director,
M.A. Bhaskarachar, CMD of Ennore Port and other officials of ministry of shipping.
The delegation will have discussions with the Japanese government for better coordination between two countries and to enhance the Japanese interests in utilizing the facilities of Indian Ports, more particular of Ennore and Chennai Ports. The delegation would have discussions for obtaining Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) funding for the Outer Harbour project of VOC Port, Tuticorin. The delegation would also be visiting the Port of Yokohama and Port of Nagoya to see the
port operations and the latest technologies being utilized in these two ports, the statement said.
Japanese automobile manufacturing companies use Chennai and Ennore ports for importing automobile components through containers for their factories. Japanese company Metal One (Mitshubishi group) is importing steel coils used for automobile through Chennai Port in the break bulk form. Around 240 Japanese companies have developed business in and around Chennai in the last decade, the statement
said.
Delegation under ministry of shipping to visit Japan
In order to ease procedures, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has permitted third-party payment for
export and import transactions.
The apex bank also permitted banks to make payments to a third-party, an entity other than the
buyer or the seller, for import of goods, but with certain conditions.
The procedure has been liberalised taking into account evolving international trade practices, the
central bank said.
While the RBI has put a cap of $10,000 in case of imports, there is no limit for exports.
According to the apex bank, third-party transactions should take place through the banking channel
and with a Financial Action Task Force (FATF)-compliant country.
"Normally, payment for exports has to be received from the over-seas buyer named in the Export Declaration Form (EDF) by the exporter, and the payment shall be received in a currency appropri-ate to the place of final destination as mentioned in the EDF, irre-
spective of the country of residence of the buyer," the RBI said.
Similarly, payments for import should be made to the original
overseas seller of the goods, it added.
RBI allows third-party payment for export & import
Shipping Ministry's efforts to reduce Port logistic costs by introducing mid Sea Cargo operation by using Barges and Floating Cranes
Page 2
Mr. B. K. Mansukhani,
Rishi Shipping appre-
ciated the efforts of
Ministry of Shipping
for supporting Rishi
Shipping in introduc-
ing Chinese system of
handling over draft
vessels in Kandla Port
and celebrating the achievements of the major ports in the function
in Bangalore on November 16, 2013.
In this regard Mr B K Mansukhani will be rewarded at the all-India
major and minor ports meet for ‘showcasing’ his innovative idea of
handling cape size vessels at cheaper cost with Kandla already
reaping its benefits by leaps and bounds. No major port including
Kandla has the capability to handle such huge ships requiring a draft
of 19 metres.
The entire shipping trade appreciate the efforts of the Ministry of
shipping and expecting now all Major ports to follow the path shown
by Kandla Port.
Kandla Port is the first major port seriously thought on handling
cargoes in mid sea by barges and with the support of port
administration trade brought more than 50 barges of 1500/2000 mts
capacity to handle over draft vessels in mid sea to achieve permissi-
ble draft of 12.00 meters and then berthing on 12.00 meters draft
available in Kandla Port. Since Panamax and Cape size vessels are
gearless and need support of cranes, finally Kandla Port arranged
two floating cranes and first cape size vessel mv. Copper smith
discharged 137537 mts coal from 30-4-2013 to 10-5-2013. This
vessel brought the positive signals and media appreciated and articles
published in most of news papers about Kandla Port created history
by handling cape size vessel and this news sent positive signals in
shipping trade and every importer decided to make good bye to
supramax and went for chartering cape size vessels for discharging in
Kandla Port. Kandla Port handled 1.2 million tonnes of imported
coal and iron pillets from 8 cape size vessels from May to October in
5 months. Two more floating cranes are arriving and trade expect
Kandla will handle minimum 5 million tonnes cargo from cape size
vessels every year.
In the past six months it has successfully handled 8 cape size vessels
with two floating cranes and 32 barges with handled tonnage being 1.2
million tones. Two more cape size vessels are to arrive at Kandla by
this month. What the trade says is that this miracle has been done by
none other than Mansukhani’s own Rishi Shipping.” “It was my long
cherished dream to see Kandla handling cape size vessels. I have been
telling the port management, trade and even the Shipping Ministry as
to how this was possible for the past one decade, but every time I
found this to be utopian. But, when I acquired two floating cranes and
barges with heavy investment and showed the result, everyone is now
after cape size. Even the Union Shipping Ministry is directing all the
major ports to copy Kandla seeing my successful experiment,’
Mr. Mansukhani said.
He said that his idea had increasing acceptance and he was happy to
learn that some other companies also would be signing concession
agreements with KPT to procure costly imported floating cranes.
Confirming this, a top official of the Port Trust said that the port
would be specially propagating this idea at the meeting as it was
innovative and first time successfully tried at Kandla. Explaining his
arithmetic, Mr. Mansukhani said that Indian major ports face draft
restrictions and smallness of their navigational channel. It was because
of this reasons our major ports were handling only supramax which
required only 12.4-metre draft. But they carry only 55, 000 mts, while
cape size ones needing a higher draft can handle even VLCCs. China is
doing only this. Think of it. Its four large size VLCCs carry four lakh
tons of iron ore from Brazil to China paying only 4.5 USD/mt freight.
They discharge at anchorage in barges which in turn empty their bulk
cargo at captive jetties of the industries concerned. The logistic cost
comes to 8 USD/mt. Thus China pays 12.5 USD per mt in transport-
ing iron ore from Brazil to China.’On the West Coast, it is Kandla’s
neighbouring port of Mundra which has 19 metre draft. The two
other ports with deeper draft are Gangavaram and Krishnapatham.
Interestingly their tariff is much higher, but still they succeed as they
had either higher draft or capability of handling bigger vessels. There
is a famous saying in shipping world: bigger the better.
Whatever you do,
Good or bad
People will
Always have
Something
Negative to say !!
Page 3
Major Ports should look for alternative cargoes to tackle negative traffic growth, says WTWF
The Major Ports are underperforming due to the ban on mining
activities and are suffering from negative growth, which is not a
healthy trend at a time when they are going in for capacity addition,
according to the Water Transport Workers’ Federation of India
(WTWF).
The Federation stressed that the Ports should seek alternative
cargoes to surmount the problem.
The port sector was way behind the projected targets regarding
capacity addition, modernisation of equipment and deepening of
draught in the ship channels due to various issues, the General
Secretary of WTWF, Mr T. Narendra Rao, said.
Port services had worsened due to government negligence and
because of poor vision in fixing the cargo targets at government-
controlled ports, resulting in them achieving reduced throughput in
2012-13 against the set target, Mr Rao noted.
In order to achieve the target of 3,130 mt as per the Maritime
Agenda 2010-20 and to attain the 12th Five-Year Plan target of
1,229.24 mt, the Major Ports should be equipped with modern
facilities, he added
India's second interna-
tional-standard multi-use
Integrated Check Post
(ICP) and the first along
the Bangladesh border
will be opened to people
at Akhaurah in Tripura
Nov 17. The first such
ICP was inaugurated in
Attari in Punjab along the
Pakistan border by then union home minister P. Chidambaram in
April last year. Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde will Nov
17 inaugurate the Akhaurah ICP, built at a cost of INR 73.5 crore.
An official of the Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI) said, "The multi
-purpose ICPs would boost trade with neighbouring countries, be-
sides facilitating trans-border passenger traffic.” He said, "Trade and
movement of people between Bangladesh and India's northeastern
states would boost by a large extent after the opening of the Akhau-
rah ICP. This is the first of its kind along the Bangladesh border.”
It is the second biggest land port along the Bangladesh border after
the Petrapole-Benapole check post in West Bengal. Akhaurah is one
of the most important international trading land ports in eastern
India, with an average of 200 Bangladeshi trucks loaded with goods
entering Tripura every day. A high-level 18-member inter-ministerial
team led by Gouri Kumar, secretary, border management, recently
inspected the Akhaurah ICP, two km west of the Tripura capital. An
official report of the union home ministry said, "In the first phase,
seven ICP are being set up at Raxaul and Jogbani (in Bihar) along the
border with Nepal, Attari (in Punjab) along the border with Pakistan,
Moreh (in Manipur) along the border with Myanmar and Akhaurah (in
Tripura), Dawki (in Meghalaya) and Petrapole (in West Bengal) along
the border with Bangladesh.”
The report said, "The ICP are being commissioned to secure India's
borders against interests hostile to the country and to put in place
systems that would interdict such elements while facilitating legitimate
trade and commerce and as a part of an overall strategy for more
improved border management.” The ICP, being built at expenditures
ranging from INR 35 crore to INR 170 crore - with a total outlay of
INR 635 crore - would be sanitised zones with dedicated passenger
and cargo terminals and space for regulatory agencies besides
necessary modern facilities under one roof.
Besides passenger terminal buildings, customs and immigration
facilities, weigh bridges, security and scanning equipment, currency
exchange booths, internet facility, cargo process building, cargo
inspection sheds, warehouse and cold storage, health and quarantine
facilities, clearing agents, banks, scanners, closed circuit television,
public address systems, isolation bay, parking, cafeteria, hotels and
other public utilities would be available.
India to open first ICP along Bangladesh border
India and Japan to strengthen ties in shipping sector
Page 4
Plea for major port sought at Ramaiahpatnam in Prakasam
The Centre should reconsider its decision to
build a major port at Dugarajapatnam in Nellore
district and instead stick to the original plan of
having the port at Ramaiahpatnam in Prakasam
district, as the expert opinion is in favour of it,
many trade associations in Guntur and Prakasam
districts have said in a memorandum to Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh recently. The Guntur
Chilli Merchants' Association, the AP Spinning
Mills Association, the Indian Tobacco
Association, the AP Prawn Farmers' Welfare
Association and several others said in the
memorandum that Ramaiahpatnam should be
chosen for construction of the major port, as
export cargo worth nearly Rs 15,000 crore was
originating from the two districts of Prakasam
and Guntur. Besides, the port could also receive
cargo from the Telangana districts.
The associations pointed out that the techni-
cal committee of experts appointed by the
Centre had chosen three sites for location of
the port – Nakkapalli in Visakhapatnam
district, Ramaiahpatnam in Prakasam district
and Dugarajapatnam in Nellore district. The
committee preferred to have the port at
Ramaiahpatnam as it was found to be the
most suitable. The other two locations were
rejected on security or ecological
considerations. It was reported that the
government had initially chosen Ramaiahpat-
nam, but subsequently the decision was
changed in favour of Dugarajapatnam.
The petitioners said there was already a
functioning port at Krishnapatnam in Nellore
district, and
a little be-
yond there
were the
ports of Ennore and Chennai in Tamil
Nadu. Therefore, it would not make
business sense to have another major port
in the same area. Besides, the port at Duga-
rajapatnam will be too close to the SHAR
Centre at Sriharikota in Nellore district.
K.V. Rosaiah, president of Guntur Chilli
Merchants' Association, P.S Rao, secretary
of AP Spinning Mills' Association, and other
office-bearers of the associations urged the
Prime Minister to take a relook into the
matter and change it in favour of
Ramaiahpatnam.
B K Mandal to hold additional charge of CMD SCI
State-run Shipping Corporation of India said B K Mandal, Director
(Finance) will hold the additional charge of Chairman and Managing
Director.
“Ministry of Shipping informed Shipping Corporation of India that B
K Mandal- Director (Finance) of SCI, will hold additional charge of
the post of the CMD of the company for a period of three
months," the company said in a regulatory filing to the stock ex-
change.
The company said, he has taken charge from October 01, 2013 to
December 31, 2013 or till a regular incumbent is appointed or until
f u r t h e r
o r d e r s ,
whichever is
earliest.
India and Japan have proposed to strengthen ties in the shipping sector and enable Japanese companies to utilise
facilities at Indian ports especially for importing automobile components. The move comes at the backdrop of
Minister of Shipping GK Vasan's visit to Japan from today till the November 12 to meet Akihiro Ohta, Japan's
Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. "The visiting delegation will have discussions with the
Japanese government for better coordination between two countries and to further enable various Japanese
companies to utilize facilities at Indian Ports, more particular of Ennore and Chennai Ports. Shri Vasan will also
lead discussions for obtaining funding from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the Outer Harbour project of VOC Port,
Thuthikoodi," said a shipping ministry.
Vishwapati Trivedi, Secretary (Shipping), M.A. Bhaskarachar, chairman of Ennore Port Ltd and other shipping ministry officials are also part of
the Indian delegation which will also visit the Port of Yokohama and Port of Nagoya in Japan to see the port operations and the latest
technologies being utilized in these two ports. Japanese automobile manufacturing companies like Toyota, Mitsubushi, Isuzu, Nissan and
Toshiba have been using Chennai Port for importing automobile components through containers for their factories located in Chennai.
Japanese company Metal One (Mitshubishi group) is importing steel coils used for automobile through Chennai Port in the break bulk form.
Around 240 Japanese companies have developed businesses in and around Chennai in the last decade.
Several Japanese companies have also shown interest in enhancing their use of the Ennore Port. At present, Nissan Motors India and Toyota
are the major Japanese Companies using the Ennore Port facilities for their export. Nissan Motors has exported about 3 lakhs cars while
Toyota has so far exported 42,000 cars from Ennore Port. The Japan government had earlier evinced interest in developing the proposed
Chennai Bengaluru Industrial Corridor as part of the Peninsular Region Industrial Development corridor (PRIDe) of India. Ennore Port has been
identified as one of the main logistics hub in this industrial corridor development. JICA has already commenced a study for the purpose.
Antwerp port investing in top-notch infrastructure
Page 5
Minister of Railways launches dual cab freight diesel locomotive ‘Vijay’
The Minister of Railways Mallikarjun Kharge
flagged off the first ever Dual Cab 4500 HP
Freight Diesel locomotive, ‘Vijay’ from Diesel
Locomotive Works (DLW), Varanasi, a produc-
tion unit of Indian Railways. The minister said
that it is not only in the area of production that
DLW is creating new milestones. Keeping in
mind the requirement of Zonal Railways, DLW
has also delivered in the area of technology up-
gradation and designing of new variants of loco-
motives. Be it Dual cab passenger locomotive
WDP4D, Hotel load locomotive, 5500 Horse
power locomotive WDG5 and now the first
ever Dual cab diesel freight locomotive
WDG4D, DLW has always lived-up to it is a
promise. The very fact is that the design of
WDG4D is a completely indigenous effort of
DLW and RDSO. Arunendra Kumar, Chairman,
Railway Board said that DLW has not only
increased its production in large but also
developed latest state-of-the-art technologies.
Building of this WDG4D High Horse
Power freight locomotive is a wonderful
breakthrough not only for DLW but for
Indian Railways and the country also.
Indian Railways has steadily been moving
towards higher speeds in freight operations.
With the freight trains touching 100 kmph
and future strategies aiming for even higher
speeds, there is a need to upgrade the
existing levels of crew comfort and visibility
in freight locomotives. Indian Railways has till
now been working with the single cab
versions of diesel-electric freight locomo-
tives. These locomotives have been very
effective in the sub 100 kmph operations.
However with the increasing horsepower
levels over the years, the locomotive lengths
have increased and their profiles have
become wider. The increase in length and
envelope of the locomotive affect visibility
and therefore there is a need to introduce
d u a l
cabs on
f r e i g h t
locomo-
tives as
well.
T h e
locomotive has been designed to implement
the Indian Railways’ efforts at increasing the
speed of loaded trains to 100kmph. It can
run at 105 kmph and can be used to haul
passenger trains in emergencies. Since the
future would belong to dual cab freight
locomotives, this model has been designed
to retain as many elements as possible of
the passenger dual cab being built by DLW.
This standardization in the manufacturing
elements will enable IR to easily move into
series production after successful prototype
trials.
Richa Industries order book touches Rs 100 cr
Richa Industries announced that its order
book in the pre-fabricated metal building
space has touched Rs 100 crore. The textile
company has recently announced its plans to
diversify into pre-engineered building
business. The company secured a Rs 18-crore
turnkey warehousing project from Indian Oil
Corp. The Delhi Metro Rail Corp has placed an order worth Rs 12
crore to construct two metro depots in Faridabad.
Richa Industries will build 14 warehouses on a turnkey basis for Bihar
State Warehousing Corp. The company has already acquired the
requisite land for the project valued at Rs 45 crore. Currently, the
company is working on over 100 projects with companies such as
Crompton Greaves, L&T, Essar Steel, India Bulls and Walco Engineering.
Between now and 2025, the port of Antwerp
and the Flemish government are to pump
more than 1.6 billion euros into infrastructure
projects. "Large-scale construction projects
such as the new lock for the Deurganck dock
and the Liefkenshoek rail tunnel will ensure
sustainable, effective infrastructure and permit further develop-
ment of the port," says Port Authority CEO, Mr Eddy Bruyninckx.
A whole series of infrastructure projects is currently being carried out
on behalf of the Port Authority. In addition to construction of the Deur-
ganck dock lock and the Liefkenshoek rail tunnel, maintenance works are
being carried out on roads and bridges, renovation work is being
done on docks, locks and old port sites, new port areas are being de-
veloped and investments are being made in buildings and equipment.
Deurganck dock lock: the biggest lock in the world, for the very
largest ships.
Heavy investments are being made in order to further improve the
accessibility of the port. The future Deurganck dock lock, which will
accommodate the first ships in 2016, is necessary in order to ensure
access to the left bank and permit further development on this side of
the river. The port already has the largest lock in the world, the
Berendrecht lock. With a depth of 17.80 metres, the Deurganck dock
lock will offer an even greater draught.
Liefkenshoek rail tunnel: leading rail link
Antwerp is one of the most important rail ports in Europe, with some
250 trains travelling to and from the hinterland every day. Once the
Liefkenshoek rail tunnel is completed, this number will increase signifi-
cantly. The 16.2-km long rail tunnel will unite the two sides of the
Scheldt and improve connections with the Netherlands, France and
Germany. The tunnel will also contribute to further growth of the port
and make an essential contribution to raising the proportion of rail
transport in the modal split
Water transport workers worried over negative growth in ports
Page 6
Maersk: Container shipping showing early signs of rebound
The Water Transport Workers Federation of India has expressed
concern over the negative traffic growth in major ports.
They feel that it is not a ‘healthy trend’ at a time when the ports are
heading for capacity additions.
As the major ports are not able to find the required cargo due to ban
on mining activities, the Federation demanded that the ports should
review the capacity addition targets keeping in view the availability of
cargo to be handled in future.
In order to address the negative growth, T. Narendra Rao, General
Secretary of he Federation, said the ports should explore the
possibility of alternative cargoes.
However, the port sector, he said, is far behind from the projected
targets of its capacity additions, modernisation of equipments,
deepening of drafts in ship channels on account of various issues.
The Federation, which observed a demands day on November 7 in all
major ports highlighting various issues, alleged that the Government’s
neglect of port expansion has led to deteriorating port services,
obsolete equipment and infrastructure which resulted in decline in
the quality of port services.
According to him, there is a lack of vision even in fixing the cargo
targets of major ports as is evi-
dent from the achievement of 135
million tonnes during 2012-13
against the target of 245 mt.
The Federation, he said, failed to
understand on what grounds that
the Maritime Agenda 2010-20 has
been fixed with a target of 3,130
mt.
MODERN FACILITIES
Rao said major ports should be equipped with modern facilities so
that the target of Maritime Agenda and that of the 12th Five Year
plan target of 1,229.24 mt can be achieved.
The federation also felt that adequate draft is an essential factor for a
sea port to attract modern/big vessels. However failure in achieving
the target of dredging affects the port capacity expansion.
Complementing the Government to set up two new major ports in
Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, the Federation urged the
authorities to develop these ports under Major Port Trust Act
instead of BOT/PPP model.
A.P. Moller-Maersk
raised its 2013 earn-
ings forecast after a
s t r o n g t h i r d
quarter, a good sign
for the container shipping industry and the global economy. The
group raised its forecast for full-year net profit to $3.5 billion, up
from $3.3 billion, and reiterated it expected Maersk Line to easily
beat last year's figure of $461 million.
Container volumes carried by Maersk Line rose 11 percent in Q3.
"The global market showed encouraging growth of around 5 percent
in Q3... showing early indications of demand picking up," Maersk said
on Wednesday in its earnings report.
Chief executive Nils Smedegaard Andersen said in a conference call he
expected annual growth in the global container shipping market to stay
under 5 percent in the coming years. "We want to grow with the
market," Andersen said. "We are not interested in gaining market
share in a low-cost situation."
Maersk Line reported its revenues dropped to $6.78 billion, impacted
by a 12 percent year-over-year decrease in freight rates. Nonetheless,
net profit rose 11 percent to $554 million, the company said, besting
average forecasts of $521 million in a Reuters survey, due to cost
cutting and lower fuel prices.
"It seems that there is light at the end of the tunnel," said Sydbank
analyst Jacob Pedersen, noting that the report reflected early signs of
an improvement in the global economy.
GE Shipping’s net surges 97.8 pc
The Great Eastern Shipping Co. Ltd’s (GE Shipping) consolidated net
profit for the quarter ended September 30 shot up by 97.8 per cent
to Rs 160.63 crore due to higher revenues and foreign exchange
gains, the company said.
Its net profit in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal had been
Rs 81.20 crore.
Besides, the company’s consolidated total income from operations
registered a jump of 16.3 per cent during the July-September quarter
to Rs 773.83 crore from Rs 665.34 crore in the corresponding quarter
last year.
Page 7
Aviation insurance is likely to emerge as a key
growth area in the coming years with new
airlines starting operations and existing players
expanding fleet size. Though the current market size
of aviation insurance stands at around Rs 500
crore, growth of airlines industry will push the premium growth in the
near future.
"Aviation insurance is an emerging segment in the general insurance
industry. We expect much growth coming from addition of new aviation
players in the market and expansion of fleet by existing players," Manik
Nehra, Senior Manager - Aviation Insurance, Bajaj Allianz General Insur-
ance said. According to the general insurer, domestic aviation industry is grow-
ing at an average growth rate of around 15 per cent per annum and is likely to
add around 450 aircraft in the next five years. Even the number of corpo-
rate jets are growing in domestic skies as more and more business houses
are acquiring own aircraft for business travel needs, industry experts said.
"Currently, around 30 jets belonging to various corporates are insured by
us. We are also the lead insurer of the recently launched regional
carrier Air Costa. We aim to be a significant player in this
segment," Nehra said, adding that the company is working with re
-insurers like Allianz, which is one of the leaders in this segment,
and GIC Re to provide re-insurance cover to aviation assets as it
is a highly reinsurance driven business. "Claims are not much from
the aviation insurance segment. The portfolio is profitable," a
public sector insurer said.
Country's largest insurer New India Assurance is a major player in
this segment.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer of Reliance General Insurance
Rakesh Jain said the aviation insurance is largely reinsurance
driven and a niche product. "Currently, the segment contributes
less than one per cent of the total industry. But, the pie is
growing," Jain said. Fleet expansion apart, among the new players
Tata SIA Airlines is expected to be the first major companies to
start operations next year.
Aviation insurance to emerge as growing segment in General Insurance sector
THE eastern arm (Ludhiana to Dankuni) of
the Railways’ ambitious Dedicated Freight
Corridor project is likely to face funding
hurdles as officials worry over completion of
the third and last phase of the project.
"We might have to explore the option of market borrowing. We will just
have about $ 0.65 billion left for the third phase," a senior Dedicated
Freight Corridor Corporation (DFCC) official said, adding that the
amount would be sufficient to complete only civil works. "Additional
funds would be required for signalling and electrification," he said.
Of the total 1,839 km eastern corridor, 1,130 km is funded by the World
Bank, with the funding capped at $ 2.725 billion (about Rs 16,350
crore, at current exchange rates). The remaining stretch is to be
completed through funding by the Ministry of Railways and via the
public-private partnership (PPP) route.
While the Ministry is expected to provide about Rs 4,000 crore
for the Mughalsarai-Sonnagar stretch, the Sonnagar-Dankuni
section is to be funded through the PPP route.
No bids have been invited so far for the PPP section as the finan-
cial model or revenue structure is yet to be finalised, according to
Ministry officials.
More funds required for eastern corridor: DFCC
Packing & securing cargo in containers seen as larger problem
Packing and securing cargo in containers is a
larger problem and a new code of practice for
packing cargo transport units (CTUs) would
come into force soon, delegates at the recently-
concluded seminar organised by the
International Cargo Handling Co-ordination
Association (ICHCA) here said.
ICHCA is an industry body that chaired the
International Maritime Organization’s (IMO)
working group on container weighing amend-
ments to the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS)
regulations.
According to IMO data, around half a dozen
national maritime authorities operate container
inspection regimes, which mainly target
dangerous goods shipments. Although this data
was a sample, only 0.01 per cent of container
shipments, a worrying 30 per cent were
found to be wrongly packed.
"The IMO published its first guidelines in
1997, which had a print run of about 1,000
copies, and it took about a decade for the
IMO to get rid of them. The information
contained in it was simply not very good,"
said Mr Bill Brassington, owner of ETS
Consulting.
The need of the new guidelines came after
several high-profile maritime accidents involv-
ing dangerous goods on containerships, such
as the MSC Flamini, he said.
"The key stakeholders agreed that the revi-
sion should focus on transparency and ease
of use,
r a t h e r
t h a n
t a k i n g
regulatory
approach," said Mr Chris Welsh, General Secre-
tary of the Global Shippers Forum.
He said that today there was a lack of
knowledge right through the supply chain,
which was the main reason for improper
packaging.
"Go back a few decades, and companies
such as Unilever would employ 30 people
in its shipping department who had in-depth
knowledge of how to pack cargo. Today
these companies have a few people in a
logistics department," he said.
Page 8
Humor
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