NEW DELHI: In a bid to float the shipping industry’s boat in India, the country’s Ministry of Shipping recently announced that all major ports will provide a discount of 80 per cent for two years on vessel related and coast related charges for coastal transportation of vehicles through roll-on roll-off (RoRo) ships. “This discount is also extended to other similar ships such as Ro-Pax, PCC, PCTC, PTC etc. An order in this regard has been issued on September 20, 2016,” said a statement from the ministry.
In order to enhance the sustainability of this revised discount, which stood at 40 per cent earlier, the ministry also said that intensive marketing will be carried out across all major ports for demand generation. Earlier this year, Hyundai opened doors for seaways transportation of cars by shipping as many as 800 brand new units, manufactured at its Sriperumbudur plant, from the Chennai Port to the Pipavav Port in Gujarat using a RoRo container. The vessel was owned by a ship operating company called Symex Maritime.
However, the service was short-lived as a result of complex cost structures. The fall out even led to carmakers, including Hyundai, lobby the government to change the method of charging marine dues that total up to almost 18 per cent of the total voyage cost. But with the new offers, a change could be on the cards. “With increase in discount to 80 per cent, it is expected that the Shipping Service Providers will be able to attract more auto-mobile cargo through the coastal route and de-congest the already congested roads and railways and also make the Ro-Ro ship service operations more sustainable,” the Ministry added in its statement.
