India-wide capacity crunch, congestion causes 'severe' Nhava Sheva delays

LOGJAMS at Nhava Sheva port are causing containers to be "severely" delayed at India's largest port because of an April and May volume surge, reported UK's International Freighting Weekly.

Figures recently released by the Indian Ports Association reveal that container volumes at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), which operates much of Nhava Sheva port, increased 17 per cent year on year during the April-May period, to hit 751,000 TEU.
Conditions are also worsening India-wide as exporters and western apparel retailers are facing a congestion at ports all over the country and containerships avoiding the subcontinent on their way from the Far East to Europe.
"It's like China in November, when it was difficult to get space on vessels to Europe and air freight was also suffering massive congestion," said Grant Liddell, key account director at leading UK logistics provider Uniserve.
Rates between India and Europe are understood to have increased sharply too, from US$1,000 to $3,000 per TEU, said IFW.
At Nhava Sheva, Maersk is warning shippers of "severe congestion" which it expects will persist because of the greater volumes overwhelming its three terminals, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPCT), Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal (NSICT) and Gateways Terminals India (GTI).
There are also problems moving boxes from common rail heads to the right terminal for on-time loading, causing containers to miss their boats. A pilot shortage has also delayed arrivals and departures of vessels.
"Congestion is causing delays and we are concerned that, with the monsoon and peak seasons approaching, it will be some time before the situation normalises," said a Maersk spokesman.
Maersk has diverted traffic to and from northern Indian inland container depots through Pipavav, north west across the Gulf of Khambat, to help ease and avoid the logjam.
India-wide, the mood is pessimistic with Western India Shippers' Association vice-president K Venkatesh saying conditions would worsen before improving.
"At a conservative estimate, there are between 20,000 and 35,000 boxes lying around India at the moment, especially in the arc between Nhava Sheva and Tuticorin, and the lines have not so far been able to clear this backlog," he said.
A Panalpina man said: "Following the financial troubles, a lot of ocean carriers are reluctant to increase capacity on the one hand, and, of course, they also want to keep up or increase the rate level on the other."
Weekly capacity out of India is between 10,000 TEU and 12,000 TEU of container slots. "On that basis, it will take at least three weeks to clear the backlog," Mr Venkatesh said.