The Indian Shipping industry plays a keyrole towards the development and growth of the shipping sector and the Indian economy as a whole. It acts as a catalyst for creating a firm position of the Indian shipping business in the global shipping industry. The contribution of Indian shipping industry per year creates a significant contribution towards increasing the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Gross National Product (GNP) of India and as part of its continuous endeavour, helps India, which is presently the 3rd largest economy of the world, for furthering development and growth of the Indian economy and become the world’s largest economy in the near future.
Based on the above and as Shipping is one of the major contributors to India’s Economy, hence our Ports need to regularly upgrade their infrastructure for increased efficiency, reduction in costs and vessel turnaround time. India is heavily dependent on Import of Bulk Coal, cost of which is on the rise. This necessitates shipping such bulk commodities in large vessels, most of which are unable to enter our Major Ports due to draft restrictions. Transloading Operation is the solution to handling of Large Bulk Carriers at outer anchorages which brings all round economies of scale.
In the Annual Plan for 2015-16, all-India coal demand has been assessed to be 910 mt, against which supplies from indigenous sources have been planned at 699.97 mt, creating a shortfall of 210.03 mt and thus increase in import of Bulk Coal has become a necessity. The objective of today’s seminar is to highlight the Economies of scale by shipping Bulk Commodities in large Bulk Carriers and undertake Transloading Operations, which gives all round economical benefits. The success of Transloading Operations at Sandheads & Konica Sands is a live example.
Against this backdrop, the Shipping Committee of BCC&I organized its annual event for the year 2015-16 titled Seminar on “Transloading – The Future of Bulk Cargo Handling in India” on Friday, 18th September 2015 at 10.00 a.m. at Williamson Magor Hall, BCC&I to deliberate on the importance of Transloading operations in India, especially at Sandheads and Konica Sands and its impact on the economic development of our country.
The focus of the seminar was to highlight the importance of Transloading operations in India, especially at the Sandheads and Konica Sands and how it could be further developed for the development and growth of Shipping industry and other industry as well in the near future.
Dr Vishwapati Trivedi, IAS, Chairman, National Shipping Board, Ministry of Shipping, Government of India graced the occasion as Chief Guest.
Shri R P S Kahlon, IAS, Chairman, Kolkata Port Trust graced the occasion as Guest of Honour.
Besides, the other key speakers who addressed the above mentioned conference were Mr. Dibyendu Bose, Group Director (Investments and New Ventures), Tata Steel Limited, Dr. Arup Roy Choudhury,Chairman & Managing Director, National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd,New Delhi, Shri P.Ravindran,Chief Mechanical Engineer V.O.Chidambaranar Port Trust, Tuticorin, Mr. Milan Nanda, Sr. Maintenance Manager,PHBPL,Paradip, Mr Farhat Imam, Chief Operating Officer, Resolve Marine Group,USA, Mr. S C Saxena, Vice Chairman, Swaymbhu Natural Resources (P) Ltd. (SNRL Ltd., SREI Group), Shri. Himanshu Ranjan, Chief Manager (Consumer Sales), Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Marketing Division, Kolkata, Shri Amitabh Verma, IAS, Chairman, Inland Waterways Authority of India, Capt S N Chaubey, General Manager – Marine, Haldia Dock Complex, Kolkata Port Trust, Haldia, Mr Nithin Menon,Head – Indian sub-continent & Middle East,Swire Bulk Logistics | The China Navigation Co. Pte. Ltd, Mumbai, Mr. Arunabh Tripathi, M/s Coeclerici Logistics, Mumbai and Shri Brojen Thamar,Chief Commissioner of Customs, Kolkata.
It was for the very first time a conference held in India at Kolkata on the subject of Transloading operations and it had a gathering of port users, barge operators, representatives of trade, industry and other delegates and there had been a sharing of knowledge, experience sharing as well as networking amongst the speakers, dignitaries, delegates and others present in the forum. It led to a most happening event for the Shipping fraternity and the industry as a whole as Transloading operations is a highly relevant as well as demanding subject in today’s industrial scenario, especially for those industries which are the ultimate beneficiaries from Transloading operations and they really depend on this modus – operandi for their regular business operations.