Local agents of container lines serving India's Port of Mumbai have protested to the port authority over draft limits at the western gateway hub.
Agents, under the aegis of the Mumbai-Nhava Sheva Ship Agents' Association, complained that a drastic reduction in available draft is affecting normal vessel operations, leading to loss of revenue for carriers.
"There is a [short]fall of about 2 meters in the draft which is alarming," the group stated in a communique to the port chairman.
They called on the authority to intervene in the matter and carry out immediate maintenance dredging to restore original water depths.
The authority recently handed over box-handling operations to its new private terminal operator, Indira Container Terminal Pvt. Ltd., under a license agreement signed earlier.
Indira, a joint venture between Gammon India and Dragados SPL of Spain, is currently developing a $300-million offshore container terminal at the port on a build-operate-transfer basis.
Meanwhile, the authority in a statement said it handled 62,493 TEUs in the April-October period, up from 59,057 TEUs in the same period the previous year. Volume in October totaled 5,701 TEUs, down from 8,212 TEUs.
In fiscal 2007-08, traffic declined 17.5 percent to 117,596 TEUs from 138,201 TEUs in 2006-07.
Agents, under the aegis of the Mumbai-Nhava Sheva Ship Agents' Association, complained that a drastic reduction in available draft is affecting normal vessel operations, leading to loss of revenue for carriers.
"There is a [short]fall of about 2 meters in the draft which is alarming," the group stated in a communique to the port chairman.
They called on the authority to intervene in the matter and carry out immediate maintenance dredging to restore original water depths.
The authority recently handed over box-handling operations to its new private terminal operator, Indira Container Terminal Pvt. Ltd., under a license agreement signed earlier.
Indira, a joint venture between Gammon India and Dragados SPL of Spain, is currently developing a $300-million offshore container terminal at the port on a build-operate-transfer basis.
Meanwhile, the authority in a statement said it handled 62,493 TEUs in the April-October period, up from 59,057 TEUs in the same period the previous year. Volume in October totaled 5,701 TEUs, down from 8,212 TEUs.
In fiscal 2007-08, traffic declined 17.5 percent to 117,596 TEUs from 138,201 TEUs in 2006-07.