K.P. Unnikrishnan elected President, Capt. Gave Sarkari & Hiren C. Ved elected Vice President

 

MUMBAI : Mumbai and Nhava Sheva Ship Agents Association (MANSA) organized its 34th Annual General Meeting on September 14, 2012 at Taj President, Mumbai.

 

Addressing the gathering, Capt. P P Singh, Past President of MANSA welcomed everyone present at the AGM and introduced the new Executive Committee Members of the Association for 2012-2014.

 

He said Mr. K . P. Unnikrishnan will be the newly elected President of MANSA and now its his responsibility to take the Association to greater heights. We wish him all the best for the future.

 

In his welcome address at the AGM, Capt P. P. Singh said, “I would like to thank all of you for reposing your faith and confidence in me by entrusting the task of managing MANSA’s activities. I do not know whether I have been able to do justice to the task entrusted. But let me submit that I have tried to do my best”.  Talking about the core activity, Capt. P P Singh reveals that MANSA has completed its 34 years of glorious service to the Shipping Trade and we are highly privileged to present the second year of service as 13th President of this esteemed organization. United we stand to win whereas divided we are bound to fall like a pack of cards. He added, I would have benefitted during my tenure, had the majority of members who has supported for the future growth of the Association. MANSA needs support from each and every member on all issues which is common factor affecting shipping, so that these can be taken up and get readdressed.

 

Being the Past President of MANSA I would like to share some of the achievements for the year 2011-12.

 

He added, all the major ports of India put together handled 510.15 MMT during the year 2011-2012. On analyzing the traffic at the Mumbai regions two Major Ports – JN Port & Mumbai Port of the following picture emerges.

 

•             It is observed that JN Port handled a throughput of 65.75 M Mt showing an increase of 11.74% and container traffic of 4.32M TEUs showing an increase of 1.19% which is marginal.

 

•             The JN Port continues to rank 3rd in terms of tonnage among the Major Ports, and, for containerized volume, it continues to be one of the top 20 Ports of the world.  The container traffic in JNP is further set to grow substantially, provided it is able to proceed with the planned infrastructural developments.

 

•             The overall performance of the trade is exceedingly well at JNPT, considering the capacity constraints and hurdles it faced.

 

•             The rate at which traffic is increasing and planning of developments like deepening of the channel for attracting deeper vessels, it is expected that by the end of 2015-16 JNPT would attract more than  10M TEUs.

 

In fact, the Chairman JNPT also projected a volume of 10.5M TEU by then.  We all can hope that the Port would equip itself to be ready for handling such a volume, as this would require a sea change in the structures, super-structures of the Port as well as in the associated ancillary infrastructures, besides, bringing a major attitudinal change in the management and operation itself. In short, the Port has to first mentally equip itself and also physically prepare itself to handle such a large volume.

 

•             As regards the Mumbai Port, the Port has managed to hold on to its existing volume.  It handled a throughput of 56.20 M Mt showing an increase of 10.03% while the container traffic was only 2772 TEUs  which is -3.11% of the last year's figure.  MANSA opposed the proposal of ICTPL for increasing the tariffs without augmenting any facilities.

 

•             Work on MbPT’s Off-shore Container Terminal (OCT) is still progressing and it is reported that the work may be completed by the end of 2012.  However, the visible progress does not confirm that it will be ready by this year end.  In any case, once this Terminal is completed we may see the revival of container activity once again at MbPT.

 

•             MbPT is known for handling multifarious cargoes like Break-bulk, Bulk and Liquid, Ro-Ro etc. in which it excels.  If the Port provides better facilities and resolves the Trades difficulties, there could be a surge of number of commodities and the volume could substantially grow. Major projects underway at MbPT are OCT Project , Deepening and extending Harbour Wall Berths to attract deep draft Break bulk vessels to enable larger vessels to call, proving a multipurpose large modern transit warehouse with car park at Harbour Wall for attracting PCCs and other Break bulk vessels and Improved Connectivity with rail and road infrastructure.

 

MANSA after trying for long has introduced Training Course for the Members' Operation Staff.  The training course curriculum drawn out contains all aspects of Container Vessels working, Break-bulk Vessels working, Bulk Vessels working, Port Operations, Operations connected with Authorities like Custom/Immigration etc and also Vessel Agency specific issues and a 'Training Module' has already been worked out by an expert Trainer in the field.  Its for all of us in MANSA to pursue these issues sincerely and dedicatedly so that shipping trade in these Ports, in particular, and in India, in general, progress effectively. The results obtained would definitely put MANSA in the forefront as a Torch Bearer of Shipping in India. 

 

The gathering was well attended by the dignitaries of the Govt and various Trade Association and well wishers.