KOCHI: Though the Indian government has ambitious plan to expand and modernise the port infrastructure, it can yield good results only if the regulatory environment undergoes a change, according to a senior executive of A.P.Moller-Maersk, which owns the largest container shipping company.
“If the Indian ports are free of government control then it could bring down the overall handling cost enabling them to compete effectively in the global market,” said Julian Michael Bevis, senior director, group relations, South Asia of A.P.Moller-Maersk.
When the ports are regulated by market dynamics they would compete with each other in pricing resulting in increased benefits for the country. “The world of container shipping is intensely competitive and people are extremely cost conscious,” Bevis, who was in Kochi, told ET. He cited the performance of the ports in Europe as a case in point.
He advocated the relaxation of cabotage law which prevents the international flag carriers from operating in the Indian coast, to keep the cost down. The proposed mega ports at Vizhinjam in Kerala and Colachel in Tamil Nadu, which are not far from each other, can co-exist and be commercially viable if they have market determined pricing, according to him.”
If the two ports in Singapore and Malaysia, which are 30 miles of each other can be commercially successful, why not these ports,” he said. The logistics sector in the country is growing at the rate of about 10 per cent at present. The rollout of GST is expected to give tremendous boost to the sector pushing up the growth rate further. Maersk India, which is expanding its CFS facilities in india by adding a new one in Pune, is expecting grow on par with the industry. ” Inland ports will be one of our areas of focus. We are also looking at facilities for specialist cargoes like seafood,” he said.
