Heavy lift vessels operators feel that their vessels are made to wait longer before they are allowed to berth. Against the backdrop of the cargo throughput at Indian ports being on the wane, heavy lift and project forwarders think that such a delay is looked upon as pseudo-congestion. But, this experience is common for them in ports at Kandla, Mumbai and Adani Dahej. According to information made available from Sai Maritime & Management, a heavy lift vessel operator, the delay at Kandla is grave and longer as on December 24; for the normal export group, it said, the delay was somewhere between 18 and 20 days; for import vessels under normal group, it was about 14 to 16 days and even for 24 hours priority vessels, the approximate delay was about 4 days. At Tuticorin, Vizag and Chennai, the situation is a little better with just a delay of about one or two days. To avoid delays, the operators choose to use other ports including the private ports where delay is not there but it affects the operating costs. The consignees are expected to pay additional charges for storage, royalty, handling charges etc. As for the project cargo, the ports charge for the waiting period as well and naturally, the cost of the operations goes up multiple times. The Executive Director, BOXCO Logistics India Private Limited, Mr. Janesh Gulati is said to have rightly observed that the government is more focused on the present need than on the future development; therefore, major ports run by them give importance and priority to cargo like coal and food grains. But the ports have their own reasons to justify the delay. They say the turnaround time for the heavy lift vessels is about three to five days, but, the other container and bulk cargo vessels take just a few hours.A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner; challenge leads to competence.
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