The Port of Mumbai extended by six months its concessions on container stuffing and de-stuffing charges to boost container throughput, as India’s once busiest container port tries to reclaim business.
The discounted rates are $55 per 20-foot, $110 per 40-foot and $166 per high cube container for stuffing, and $60, $120 and $179, respectively, for de-stuffing.
The extended scheme took effect Sept. 11 and will remain in force until March 10, 2012, the port authority said.
The authority earlier implemented similar concessions on container storage rates in an attempt to reverse a sharp traffic decline caused by capacity restraints. Mumbai’s container volume in the April-August period dropped 13 percent year-over-year to 26,000 20-foot equivalent container units, according to the latest official figures.
In a bid to upgrade container-handling facilities and lure mainline calls, the authority is building a offshore container terminal through private participation, with annual capacity of 800,000 TEUs in the initial phase.
Expected to be ready in 2012, the $300 million project will enable the west coast hub to handle 6,000-TEU vessels and compete with the neighboring Port of Jawaharlal Nehru (Nhava Sheva), a more modern facility that moves nearly 60 percent of the country’s total containerized export and import cargo.
HButler on 9/15/2011 - The Journal of Commerce.