Government officials from 36 countries visit the port as part of the MEA initiative
Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), India’s premier container port, organized a port study-tour for the largest global congregation ever to visit any port in India. The congregation included 38 government officials from 36 countries, who are part of the Global Strategic Growth Leadership & Sustainable Development program initiated by ITEC with the support of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The delegates represented host of nations like, Trinidad & Tobago, Cuba, Iraq, Srilanka, Nigeria, Colombia, South Africa,Egypt,Guinea, Peru,Kenya and Vietnam.
Speaking on this initiative, Shri Neeraj Bansal, Chairman-in-Charge, JNPT said, “India is a significant contributor to the global container cargo business and JNPT has been the driving force behind this growth, accounting for around 53% of the total containerised cargo volume, across the major ports of India. We are delighted to have government officials from so many countries coming together, here, to understand our role in the global perspective. Such collaborative efforts help in promotion of trade between India and the rest of the world which will give a fillip to Indian economy.”
As part of the tour the delegates, first had a tour of the port followed by a visit to the international APEC training centre which is built in joint collaboration between JNPT and Port Antwerp, to provide regular port related skill development courses. This was followed by a group discussion, where the delegation was appraised about JNPT’s overall operations, especially new initiatives implemented to promote Ease of Doing Business and they also talked about adoption of technology to improve the efficiency and quality of business. JNPT is popularising Direct Port Delivery (DPD) and Direct Port Entry (DPE) to reduce congestion and save time and cost for EXIM Trade. In addition JNPT is also setting up 4 new dry ports and a state-of the-art SEZ, to facilitate faster and economic trade. While dry ports will result in movement of cargo from hinterland to ports on a planned basis, setting up of SEZ will attract global investments to turn India into a manufacturing hub.
The session was an eye-opener for delegates, especially from countries which had dormant ports as they gather insights on best practices which can be employed in their region to enhance the port efficiency.
JNPT is currently ranked 33th among the global ports and is the largest container port in the country. It handled the highest ever volume of 4.83 million TEUs for the year ended March 2018 and its capacity is slated to double at 10 million TEUs after the completion of the construction of second phase of the 4thContainer terminal in 2022.
