Even as the elected representatives from Dakshina Kannada district have mooted to transform Mangalore into a port city, the need to boost the movement of cargo through the New Mangalore Port remains unaddressed.
The NMPT which carries the tag of being the 10th major port of India, despite having the potential to draw more cargo handling, has not been utilised to its fullest capacity. While, the traders and the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industries see a ray of hope in the new railway minister to sanction doubling of Mangalore-Hassan railway line for the easy transportaion of cargo from the port, there has also been a demand to make the process of clearing Exim trade (Export and Import) hassle-free.
Due to the lack of road and railway connectivity from Mangalore to Bangalore and Mysore, the Mangalore Port is not utilised by the manufacturers and traders in other parts of Karnataka. Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industries President Mohammad Ameen said that hinter land connectivity is the need of the hour. Developing Shiradi ghat and doubling the Mangalore-Hassan railway track would attract more cargo for the NMPT. If a container terminal is constructed exclusively for handling cargo in the port, it will be advantageous, he said.
“The single point agenda of the KCCI in its representation submitted to Railway Minister D V Sadananda Gowda recently was doubling the railway track. We see it as a good signal from the new government’s proposal of developing connectivity to ports under public-private partnership,” he said.
Delay in clearance?
Apart from lack of road and rail infrastructure, a builder from Mangalore said that majority of the suppliers of construction materials were not opting NMPT for importing the consignments due to the delay in clearing shipments.
Chennai Port and Krishnapatnam Port are more convenient to the suppliers as the process of document verification and payment is quick and getting the cargo out of the port is easy. In addition, most of the consignments related to the construction are imported from China and the sea route between China and Mangalore is not flourishing. Despite Mangalore being the hub of construction activities, the NMPT has not been of an advantage to the builders, he said.
However, NMPT Deputy Traffic Manager Navaneeth refuted the statement and claimed that the clearance procedure followed was transparent in NMPT and the cargo is cleared in two days if the documents are submitted and payment is done as per the requirement.
Even though, he admitted that road and rail infrastructure from Mangalore to hinter land is the only constraint, he said the Port Trust is not completely dependent on it for cargo transportation.
“We are capturing new targets especially from Singapore, West Asia and Europe. Suppliers from China prefer Chennai Port due to logistic advantage,” he pointed. On asked about the demand for developing a separate container terminal, he said the plan is in its initial stage.