Frustrated over persistent gate congestion and excessive turnaround delays, container trailers serving India’s Nhava Sheva Port (JNPA) have issued a boycott notice for PSA Mumbai, also known as Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals (BMCT).
PSA Mumbai/BMCT is one of five container terminals at Nhava Sheva.
A confederation of trailer groups – handling local container moves — has complained that drivers are taking up to 12 hours, on average, for a trip (gate-in/out) at the terminal, causing substantial additional costs.
“The flow of traffic towards the terminal for the export laden and empty platform vehicles has been severely impacted due to slow gate-in processes and inefficiency of the terminal operations staff and managerial apathy,” said the Nhava Sheva Container Operators’ Welfare Association (NSCOWA).
NSCOWA further noted, “The higher turnaround time at BMCT is resulting into high vehicle fuel consumption and environmental pollution, which shouldn’t be neglected.”
The notice also stated that the response from PSA Mumbai regarding trucker/driver concerns has been apathetic.
According to NSCOWA, “due to long waiting intervals, the vehicle breakdown ratio is very high in BMCT. Also, the procedure to attend to a breakdown, beyond pre-gate point and within the terminal is extremely difficult and time-consuming.”
The association complained that despite several rounds of consultations, no concrete steps have been taken by the terminal to address the issues, putting transport service providers at heavy losses.
NSCOWA went on to add, “Even after JNPA’s intervention, there have been no signs of improvement from BMCT in spite of their commitment during the meeting.”
“Our association has constantly been following up on the concerns, which are directly impacting export/import trade in terms of port ground rent, ineffective inventory planning for factory imports and export shutout charges,” said the notice.
The group has warned that if no improvement is seen in the coming days, truckers will boycott PSA Mumbai/BMCT from 26 October.
Volumes at PSA Mumbai have increased in recent months with more service additions, as APM Terminals Mumbai had to work with capacity restrictions due to an equipment upgrade programme.
According to port data collected by Container News, PSA Mumbai saw April-September (first fiscal year half) throughput surge 39% year-over-year to 1.06 million TEUs. Reflecting the growth pace, the terminal hit an all-time monthly throughput high in August, at 194,714 TEUs.
PSA Mumbai’s first phase began operations in February 2017, while its Phase II development is targeted for completion in 2025.
“This expansion will effectively double the terminal’s existing capacity, enabling it to handle 4.8 million TEUs by the first quarter of 2025 and enable PSA Mumbai to play its part in supporting the growth of the Indian economy,” the Singapore-based terminal operator said in a recent statement.
Jenny Daniel
Global Correspondent
Contact email: j.daniel@container-news.com
