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The shippers are getting sleepless nights that the goods will not reach the shops on time. The factories may shut out owing to the lack of raw material. Charterers worry that they have to pay heavy demurrage charges.
It is when something is missing; shipping comes under the purview of general public and the complete dependence of life on shipping become blatant. According study by ET Knowledge series to estimate the cost of congestion at JNPT, the figure was found to be around US $ 1.5 billion per annum.
The question is who will bear these costs - Shippers, Shipping lines, Port authorities or some one else?
The reason surely for all this is port congestion which enhances the pressure on the container shipping industry to deliver consistent, efficient and reliable services.
Container Shipping - A Preview
The introduction of container shipping in mid 50's marked the beginning of multi-modal transportation, which involves the movement of goods using more than one means of transport. This multi modal transportation has now grown to become one of the key elements in the logistic chain. The size and the number of containers handled per ship have enormously increased since the beginning of container shipping. This increased preference of the container ships over the bulk vessel can be attributed to the following reasons: -
Container service reduces the transit time through quicker handling of cargo thereby reducing the time spent in handling the cargo in disintegrated form.
Containerization ensures substantial savings in the packaging costs vis-à-vis break bulk cargo.
Containerization eliminates the immediate handling of the cargo at the port or on voyage thus maintaining the safety and integrity of cargo shipped.
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* Contributed by -
Amit Gupta,
Did Dual MBA from IMI, Belgium and IIPM, New Delhi (Specialisation in Marketing & Finance) in February 2005,
Currently working in i-Maritime Consultancy Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai.
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