Govt must address huge turnaround time of vessels

A study by the industry body Assocham points out that the government must address the issue of the huge turnaround time at ports in India.

The huge turnaround time is cited as one of the biggest handicaps logistics service providers have to deal with, the study finds. It also highlights that the development of port infrastructure in India is not on par with other ports across the world.

With existing ports suffering from congestion, poor connectivity and accessibility and lack of adequate facilities, there is a need for modern ports in the country, the study finds.

In fact, the Planning Commission’s 12th Five Year Plan working committee on ports has stated that Indian ports need to gear themselves.

For doing so essentially what is required is modernising the port infrastructure, improving the service quality and an increase in productivity levels.

Public investment must be supplemented by private sector investment in public private partnership (PPP) mode as the resources required to build the necessary infrastructure are much larger, experts feel.

There is a need to create new logistics capacities and provide services under competitive market conditions in order to reduce logistics costs in the country.