NAVI MUMBAI: Nhava Sheva (India) Gateway Terminal (NSIGT) — which DP World refers as its futuristic investment and trade enabler in India’s emerging market economy — has won a new, major consortium call, as ocean carriers continue their alliance/tonnage realignments to lessen operating costs and improve profitability.
NSIGT is one of the two terminal concessions DP World holds at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), India’s busiest container harbor.
Mediterranean Shipping Co. will lead a revamped, upsized weekly route connecting India, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean, under a vessel-sharing agreement (VSA) with CMA CGM and Cosco Shipping Lines.
The “INDIAMED” (India-Middle East-East Mediterranean) service will employ seven vessels — with capacities reportedly ranging from 9,000 TEU to 9,400 TEU. Of these, MSC will phase in five ships, and the other two partners will contribute one vessel each.
The MSC Alghero, voyage IT846R, will hold the first call at NSIGT on Nov. 21, according to industry sources.
Port rotation
The port rotation will be as follows: Hamad, Qatar; Jubail, Saudi Arabia; Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates; Mundra and Nhava Sheva (JNPT), India; Colombo, Sri Lanka; King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia; Port Said, Egypt; Mersin, Turkey; Piraeus, Greece; Tekirdag, Istanbul, Mersin, and Iskenderun, Turkey; King Abdullah; Salalah, Oman; Jebel Ali; Khalifa, Abu Dhabi; and back to Hamad, providing a 49-day roundtrip voyage.
The new India-Mediterranean service addition reportedly brings the number of weekly calls at NSIGT to seven.
Amid intensifying regional competition, following the opening of BMCT in February, that large-size consortium call is expected to be a major “growth engine” for DP World Subcontinent, which has lately prioritized operations at NSIGT as part of a strategy to sidestep long-running royalty payment and tariff issues plaguing its flagship Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal (NSICT) in the public harbor.
NSIGT hosted the 13,000-TEU MSC Cristina in April 2017 — said to be the largest-ever container ship call at an Indian Port — and “efficiency” is seen as the major allure for carriers/consortia adding calls at the port. Equipped with advanced / sophisticated marine infrastructure and an optical character recognition (OCR) technology-based gate solution — a first at Indian Ports — NSIGT also boasts a 1 million TEU annual capacity.
Further, DP World Nhava Sheva has been at the forefront of Ease-of-Doing-Business and automation measures at JNPT, and the recently introduced "on-wheel examination and sampling” services for import cargo booked under the direct port delivery (DPD) program has broadened the company’s trade-centric approach.
