The focus of discussion was to address challenges faced by shippers while moving cargo from Nagpur to the gateway ports and onwards.
The panelists for the business session were Aloma Fernandes, Area General Manager – Western & Central India, CMA CGM Agencies India; Capt Inderpal Singh, Vice President – West, MSC Agency India; Manohar Bhojwani, CEO, Diet Foods International; K Srikanth, Vice President, Liner, Avana Logistek; and moderator Vinita Venkatesh, Director, Krishnapatnam Port Container Terminal & Managing Director, Ocean 2 Door Pvt Ltd.
Elaborating port connectivity and cargo movement scenario in Nagpur, Aloma Fernandes in the inaugural said: CMA CGM has connectivity from Nagpur and Raipur on the east coast and west coast considering the fact that the region has exports to Africa and imports from far East. Apart from shipping the container, the company also offer value added services like one stop shop for cargo protection. The company has expanded beyond shipping services and offers door to door cargo delivery.
Briefing the audience about services offered by MSC, Capt Inderpal Singh said: During 2014-16 most of the container manufacturers incurred huge losses, and slowed down production. As a result there is shortage of inventory. Due to which trade is facing shortage of containers. To tackle the situation, the company looks to talk to rail operators and offer special tariff to convert cargo which is getting cleared at Nhava Sheva and moving to Nagpur by road. Lines will not be in a position to bear repositioning cost for long. Shippers need to understand about the survival of shipping lines.
Presenting the perspectives of shippers, Manohar Bhojwani said: It is need of the hour to be competitive to survive in the business. Exporter or importer looks at each aspect of supply chain to cut down costs. Importer imports from all parts of the world, as a result moving container inventory for the shipping lines, and the shipping lines should provide some relaxation to importers or exporters to make them more competitive and transport more cargo.
Elaborating on the services offered, K Srikanth said: Cargo in the central region market has been growing consistently. Due to import-export mismatch empty box re-positioning is an issue and it adds cost to the lines. There are plans to expand liner service and offer connectivity to Chittagong, Colombo and Middle East. Using these services would lead to saving in freight. If shippers could plan out a combination of domestic movement combined with international shipment in the form of round trip arrangement, it would be beneficial for the trade and also for shipping lines.
The last presentation of the session was by Vinita Venkatesh, who explained on the infrastructure and services offered by Krishnapatnam Port Container Terminal and Ocean 2 Door. She said: The port is working on offering a rail service from Nagpur to the port, and the service is expected to begin from first week of June. One of the biggest growth drivers for the port has been transshipment business, and currently Maersk Line and Hyundai offer service to China, and Shreyas Shipping is offering Indian flagged vessel service connecting cargo from other ports to Krishnapatnam for transshipment. The port also offers direct service to Chittagong. The port will offer 40” inventory for export. Ocean 2 Door is part of the group which offer door-todoor logistics services, and it caters to every aspect of supply chain.
