Two Chennai container terminals face congestion
Two private container terminals at Chennai Port, operated by DP World and PSA International, are facing severe congestion, forcing many shipping lines to look for alternative destinations for their cargo. Lines and feeder operators have begun levying congestion surcharges as the condition turned unmanageable over the past few weeks.
Shipping lines at Chennai Port Trust are, however, heaving a sigh of relief now as a five-day long strike by trailer operators has been called off.
Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Mumbai is also grappling with severe congestion as reported in Cargonews Asia on August 15.
Feeder operators under the banner of Chennai Feeder Operators (CFO) have already begun charging US$65 per 20-ft container, while shipping lines such as Hapag-Lloyd, Wan Hai Lines, Maersk Line have announced a $75 per TEU levy.
CFO said the levy is meant to recover losses due to delays in ship turnaround. All the feeder lines operating at Chennai - Bengal Tiger Line, Advance Container Lines, Orient Express Line, Samudera, Sea Consortium and Sea Services - have imposed the surcharge.
"The surcharge will continue. Unfortunately, Chennai does not have space for expansion and as the port is situated in the city only one gate can remain open for 24 hours," said the port official.
A senior APL India official said around 5,000 container trailers on an average enter and leave the port terminals along with other trucks carrying bulk cargo as well.
"The single gate that is open 24 hours is not adequate to deal with the increasing traffic. There is a waiting period of four to five days for the trucks. Both the private terminals are facing severe congestion. The normal time for a container from the port to the container freight station is half a day but it now takes a day and a half," said the APL official.
APL said it was struggling to connect exports via terminals in Chennai Port because of severe port congestion and yard delays. "As a fall-out of the congestion, inland container movements are severely affected. Export boxes of some carriers that arrived at the dockside rail terminal yard in early July have not been shipped out as equipment operators are unable to retrieve those boxes.
"Many of our customers have rerouted their cargo to other ports such as Kochi, Tuticorin and Vizag. The situation has worsened due to the rains, bad condition of the roads and the two recent strikes by the truck workers. The situation might take months to recover," said the APL official.
A senior Chennai Port official said among all other major ports, Chennai has the least area for expansion. "Since the past five years, traffic volume has gone up 20 percent every year. We are handling 61 million tonnes of cargo, which is expected to go up to 140 million tonnes in another decade. Invariably, the numbers of vehicles have also increased. As the port is situated in the city there are restrictions on container traffic movements. The area set aside for the Customs and security cannot be compromised," said the official.
He said although connectivity projects have been planned since 15 years, bureaucratic red tape has delayed the projects.
Two projects that are being eagerly awaited are the 30 km Chennai-Ennore road and the 18 km elevated road project. The former will link the northern end of the port to the national highway. Work on the project has started and is expected to be completed in a year and a half.
The second project, which connects the port with Maduravoyal, is under construction. Upon completion, it will be India's longest four-way elevated expressway. It will take two and a half years for completion.
According to a line official, the only way the situation can improve is to have multilanes within the zero gate, which can segregate the trucks going to the different terminals and move traffic faster.
Shipping lines at Chennai Port Trust are, however, heaving a sigh of relief now as a five-day long strike by trailer operators has been called off.
Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Mumbai is also grappling with severe congestion as reported in Cargonews Asia on August 15.
Feeder operators under the banner of Chennai Feeder Operators (CFO) have already begun charging US$65 per 20-ft container, while shipping lines such as Hapag-Lloyd, Wan Hai Lines, Maersk Line have announced a $75 per TEU levy.
CFO said the levy is meant to recover losses due to delays in ship turnaround. All the feeder lines operating at Chennai - Bengal Tiger Line, Advance Container Lines, Orient Express Line, Samudera, Sea Consortium and Sea Services - have imposed the surcharge.
"The surcharge will continue. Unfortunately, Chennai does not have space for expansion and as the port is situated in the city only one gate can remain open for 24 hours," said the port official.
A senior APL India official said around 5,000 container trailers on an average enter and leave the port terminals along with other trucks carrying bulk cargo as well.
"The single gate that is open 24 hours is not adequate to deal with the increasing traffic. There is a waiting period of four to five days for the trucks. Both the private terminals are facing severe congestion. The normal time for a container from the port to the container freight station is half a day but it now takes a day and a half," said the APL official.
APL said it was struggling to connect exports via terminals in Chennai Port because of severe port congestion and yard delays. "As a fall-out of the congestion, inland container movements are severely affected. Export boxes of some carriers that arrived at the dockside rail terminal yard in early July have not been shipped out as equipment operators are unable to retrieve those boxes.
"Many of our customers have rerouted their cargo to other ports such as Kochi, Tuticorin and Vizag. The situation has worsened due to the rains, bad condition of the roads and the two recent strikes by the truck workers. The situation might take months to recover," said the APL official.
A senior Chennai Port official said among all other major ports, Chennai has the least area for expansion. "Since the past five years, traffic volume has gone up 20 percent every year. We are handling 61 million tonnes of cargo, which is expected to go up to 140 million tonnes in another decade. Invariably, the numbers of vehicles have also increased. As the port is situated in the city there are restrictions on container traffic movements. The area set aside for the Customs and security cannot be compromised," said the official.
He said although connectivity projects have been planned since 15 years, bureaucratic red tape has delayed the projects.
Two projects that are being eagerly awaited are the 30 km Chennai-Ennore road and the 18 km elevated road project. The former will link the northern end of the port to the national highway. Work on the project has started and is expected to be completed in a year and a half.
The second project, which connects the port with Maduravoyal, is under construction. Upon completion, it will be India's longest four-way elevated expressway. It will take two and a half years for completion.
According to a line official, the only way the situation can improve is to have multilanes within the zero gate, which can segregate the trucks going to the different terminals and move traffic faster.