At the Chintan Baithak organised by the Shipping Ministry in order to evolve innovative ideas to propel India’s Blue Economy, Sonowal mentioned, “There should be zero waiting time for inbound and outbound cargo. This means there should be zero waiting of ships as well as for trucks carrying cargo.”
Sonowal’s formidable targets would require bringing down the present wait time of around a day for berthing at India’s major ports must zero. In the FY 2020, the waiting time before a cargo ship was berthed at a major port in India was round 0.95 days. The pre-berthing time is the time a ship or vessel must wait earlier than getting into within the berth at a port.
According to official estimates, the container turnaround time at Indian major ports is about 26.5 hours. This has come down from round 45-odd hours in 2013-14.
Sonowal additionally mentioned that the main focus needs to be on public-private partnership (PPP) tasks in greenfield port improvement, “We must look at the PPP model for this that will also ease up government resources for Greenfield port development. This will comprehensively develop the coastal regions of India for ease of living for people living in these areas and, at the same time, helps businesses avail best services through ease,” he mentioned. An official assertion mentioned that emphasis was laid on prioritising rail-road-waterways improvement at the Chintan Baithak for efficient implementation of the PM Gati Shakti National Multi Modal Connectivity Plan. Commenting on the identical, Sonowal mentioned {that a} Master Plan to allow ports to determine and resolve bottlenecks in multimodal connectivity is the necessity of the hour. A complete of 157 highway connectivity tasks and 137 rail connectivity tasks are being undertaken for selling multimodal connectivity at Ports, the assertion added.
