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India's TAMP caps rates for port delivery at Mumbai's JNPT

INDIA's competition watchdog for port services, the Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP), has approved a proposal to cap handling rates for import discharges through the direct port delivery (DPD) programme, which is key to cutting container dwell times and boosting productivity at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT).

The maximum DPD handling rates are INR1,688 (US$26) per TEU and INR2,532 per FEU, but terminals have the flexibility to charge lower prices dependent on commercial considerations, the TAMP order stated, reported IHS Media.

"DPD is reported to be an innovative effort to expedite delivery of consignments within 48 hours from the terminal without the conventional step of transferring the consignments to container freight stations [CFS] for clearing consignments after following the customs procedures, thereby ensuring a 24/7 availability of delivery from terminals and at the same time, reducing handling costs and also decongesting the port," the regulator said.

The new DPD rate scale for all terminals would remain in force until March 31, 2019.

The ruling follows a recent TAMP decision to equalise train and truck handling rates at all terminals as part of a government "rail push" programme to ease pressure on port roadways.

Attaining a 25 per cent rail share seems an uphill task for the port despite the rollout of a uniform rail-road tariff plan for moving containers between yards and rail or truck points. The port's rail share during April and May was no better than the long-term trend, hovering less than 15 per cent.

By volume, intermodal railed cargo totalled 110,364 TEU, out of a throughput of 820,785 TEU in the two-month period.

Extra handling charges and supply chain providers' disinclination toward DPD have generated controversy since the scheme was simplified and expanded in February 2016, forcing Nhava Customs to issue warning notices to private terminals at different times following shipper complaints.