Trade group opposes revision of rates at Kochi port
Monday, 22 Jun 2009
BL reported that the trading community in Kochi port is to oppose the general revision of tariff proposals of the port management as well as the terminal operator at the joint hearing scheduled to be convened by Tariff Authority of Major Ports in the port premises on last Saturday.
Senior sources in the trading community said that the proposals for an overall increase of 40% hike in the rates is not at all logical considering the global recession and decrease in the volume of Exim trade through the port. It would be advisable to maintain the current scale of rates and any increase in rates particularly during this period would spell disaster for the overall development of Exim trade.
Referring to the rates proposed for container related charges, the sources pointed out that the increase in wharfage such charges at 40% is a steep hike and cannot be justified. The port is severely affected by global recession and exports of entire major item through the port had shown a decline. The port handled 15.23 million tonne cargo in 2008-09 compared with 15.75 million tonne in the previous year, showing a decline of 3.34%.
While the containers handled in 2008-09 was 263,473 TEUs compared with 253,715 TEUs in the previous year, showing an increase of 2.66%.
However, Kochi is way below in the container traffic in comparison with neighboring ports. Moreover, the New Mangalore Port is attracting huge volumes of coffee exports previously routed through Kochi.
