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Container shipping offers regulated, scheduled container carrying services like guaranteed departure time, regularity and frequency of the service. Like any other business operation where the integration is crucial key to success, the container shipping also involves integration of various services of inland operation to maintain the streamline flow. Disruption of any form on the inland side results in severe repercussion on the container shipping industry as well.

Disruptions in the inland services are one of the main reasons leading to the port congestion. These disruptions can be caused by a number of reasons like inadequate capacity of the terminals, insufficient rail and road connectivity, strikes at the ports, age old documentation process, inadequate or deficient equipment handling facility, etc.

These reasons further elevate the problem of congestion to support the increased traffic demand. The costs of congestion quantified in the monetary terms are sometimes exorbitantly high on an all round basis. It not only affects those, whose goods are delayed but also the vessel owners whose schedule are made untenable, for the efficient running of transport itself.

The performances of ports normally give an indication of the congestion and give the timely indication of the looming problem bound to come in future. Looking further port performance parameters give an indication to congestion problem.

Performance Parameters of Ports

1. Efficiency: Major ports in India are way below the international standards of efficiency. This is evident from the average container handled per hour and average turnaround time. The table below give a comparison of Indian ports vis-à-vis foreign port.

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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.