Mumbai, May 7: The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) on Thursday said all five of its container terminals are operating smoothly and denied claims of congestion at the port, attributing delays in the evacuation of import containers to a shortage of trailers and drivers arranged by Container Freight Stations (CFSs) and Custom Brokers (CBs).
In a trade advisory issued amid recent alerts by industry bodies CFSAI and BCBA, JNPA said the port continues to function at full efficiency, handling around 10 to 12 container vessels daily and processing nearly 22,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of cargo every day.
According to the authority, nearly 20,000 TEUs are evacuated by road, while another 2,000 TEUs move through rail operations daily.
JNPA attributes delays to trailer and driver shortages
JNPA clarified that there is no backlog of trailers at the terminals and said the issue lies with the reduced number of trailers arriving for container pickup due to driver shortages and absenteeism.
“Import containers stacked at terminal yards are delivered only when trailers are placed by CFSs or CBs. It is their responsibility to ensure adequate trailer availability,” the advisory stated, adding that alternative arrangements must be made if drivers are unavailable due to leave or vacations.
The port authority said additional manpower has been deployed at terminals to speed up container deliveries and stressed that there are no delays from the terminal side.
To ease the situation, JNPA said it has initiated several measures, including facilitating evacuation of containers by rail to nearby CFSs with rail connectivity, coordinating with Customs authorities for quicker clearances, and arranging dedicated trains from West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh to bring back drivers currently on vacation.
Port occupancy at 67 per cent, says authority
The authority also addressed concerns regarding rising yard occupancy levels. JNPA said its total container storage capacity stands at 1.76 lakh TEUs and that the present occupancy level of 1.18 lakh TEUs as of May 7 represents only 67 per cent utilisation.
Under normal conditions, occupancy ranges between 90,000 and 1 lakh TEUs, it added.
JNPA said the rise in occupancy was partly due to increased transshipment cargo linked to geopolitical disturbances in the Middle East, though only 26,000 TEUs of the current stock are transshipment containers and are not contributing to congestion.
“The higher occupancy is solely due to delays in trailer mobilisation by CFSs and CBs,” the authority said.
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Reiterating that operations at the port remain uninterrupted, JNPA urged CFS operators and Custom Brokers to urgently mobilise additional trailers and drivers to ensure smooth evacuation of import containers from terminal yards.
JNPA currently operates five container terminals — NSFT, NSICT, NSIGT, BMCT and APMT — and is also developing the greenfield Vadhvan Port project in Maharashtra, which is planned as India’s 13th major port.
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