As Jawaharlal Nehru (JNP) com-26 most of it being the primary, gateway ti the country’s ex-im trade, it is back doing what it does best-setting new performance benchmarks.

           In 2009-10- the just- conclued fiscal- it bounced right back after a recesion- hit 2008-09 into the 4-million TEU CLUB by registering its highest-ever throughput of 4.061 million TEUs, and also crossing the 60-million-tinne cargo milestone for the first time by handling 60.75million tonnes.

           JN Port,thus, continues to remain the country’s primary ex-im gateway, a position that is unlikely to change given its massive infrastructure augmentation programmes Lined up and, importantly, given the steadfast support of the trade.

           The overall performance of the Port is only as good as the performance of its individual terminals. DP Word Nhava (NSICT), Gateway Terminals India (GTI) and the portrun Jawaharlal Nehru Port Container Terminal (JNPCT) have been professionally competing to attract cargo.

            GTI, especially, has seen its throughout rise expeditiously since it came into strem a few years back as the Port’s third terminal. In the last fiscal, it handled 1.75 million TEU and JNPCT with 0.78 million TEUs.

            One must specially mention here the leadership provided by the former Chairman, Mr S.S. Hussain, who saw the Port through the troughs of the recession and signed off on a high in end- March 2010 with the Port achieving new cargo- handling landmarks.

            JN Port has always had the good fortune of haveing some very capable men and women at the helm. One is,therefore, confident that the current management them, headed by Mr N.N. Kumar, Chairman In-charge, will take the Port to even higer levels of performance sffciency and global stature.

            Among the many pioneering legacies of JN Port has been the introduction of public-private partnership (PPP) and the build-operate-transfer (BOT) conxept in the ports sector, because of which many a facility has been able to adopt international best practices and attain global performance and other standards.

            One can look forward to a much improved JN Port in the coming years, with a plethora of projects to bew implemented, like the 330-m terminal,the massive 4th container terminal (termed as a ’second JNPT’), channel dredging, integrated parking plaza, Port-based SEZ, etc.

            Besides, significant like the Dedicated Freight Corridor and Delhi- mumbai Industrial Corridor  are expected to esupport and complement the Port.

            JNP is also taking steps towards becoming the country’s first ‘green’ port. Five million TEU and then 10 million TEUs are the next milestones.  

May 24: Exploring avenues to boost its stagnant exports, the US is apparently mulling a complete overhaul of its export control policies this year, which might pave the way for sale of more high-tech-nology goods to India and China, especially in the field of green energy. “We are reviewing the entire list of our export control system as some of the protections and restrictions make very little sense,” US Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke said, raising hopes among Chinese officials for acquisition of some of the latest US technology, blocked by Washington over fears of intellectual property rights. he said US hopes to increase its exports to emerging markets, including Chna, India, Brazil and Russia. China especially will be a key part of the US strategy to boost exports. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who arrived in Shanghai on May 21, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner would head a 200 member delegation, the largest ever to have visited China, at the talks in Beijing. The reform of US export control rules would be on top of the agenda of Chinese officials in their discussions with their US counterparts during the high-level meeting.

The US government is loosening controls over some commonly available high-tech goods, but will give more protection to the sensitive technologies that are important to national security, Locke said. “Currently, less than 1 pc of US exports to China require a license. of those that do require a license, 98 percent are approved. Streamlining items on the export control list will cause the license to be issued more quickly,” he said.

           From june 15, UASC is to implement a peak season surcharge (pss) of $200 per TEUfrom Asia to East Mediterranean based on bill of lading date.

           With the container export market getting stronger out of Asia and for UASC to continue providing an reliable srevice out, it has decided to implement the rate restoration.

           On Asia to North Europe- West Mediterranean, Adriatic trade rate restoration will be $200/TEU with effect from june 15 (based on Bill of Lading date).

           it will be applicable for both dry (including special equipment) and reefer cargo.

           UASC ha also announced a rate restoration (RR) applicable to all WB agreements from Asia (AOTJ origins) to all Arabian Gulf, Iran and Iraq destinations, expiring on May 31. is effective from june 1 to 30, $150/20′, $300/40′ and $300/HC. 

            MAERSK Line and its unit, Safmarine, will start their first direct container service between Malaysia and the Arabian Gulf at the end of june.

            it will reportedly be operated by an unknown  number of 2,009- TEU ships, on the following rotation: Tanjung Pelepas, jebel Ali, Djibouti, jeddah, Port Sudan, Djibouti and back to Tanjung Pelepas.

            Djibouti and Port Sudan will be the main ports at the East Africa snd of the loop. “These two are served via transhipment via either Salalah or to improve the service by providing a more relibale, on-time product,” said Safmarine Africa Trade Manager, Mr Dirk Geens.

         NEW DELHI, May 24  THE Steel Ministry has sought an increase in the export duty of iron ore and wants to discourage its export in a bid contain the skyrocketing prices of the mineral.

          The Ministry has been monitoring the domestic availability of the mineral, said the Steel Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, here.

           The industry expects iron ore prices to go up in the July-september quarter. in the current quarter (April-June), prices have shot up by 60-65 per cent over those prevailing in the first quarter of 2009-10.      

          “We recently imposed an export duty on iron ore (5 per cent on lumps). We hope that this will suffice to make more iron ore available for the domestic industry. But if it does not work then we will look to increase the export duty again,” Mr Singh assured.

           He pointed out that apart from the option of hiking the export duty, the government could also impose : quantitative restrictions: on export of the mineral.

           ” The government will have to look at the question of export differently by bringing in a definite deterrence. This may be in the form of either prohibitive duty or quantitative restrictions,” he emphasised.

           The mineral’s prices have been increasing the cost pressure on  steel companies because the mining companies shifted to a quarterly pricing model since April. 

LONDON, MAY 20 TRANSPACIFIC and Asia Europe containerised cargo volumes have been projected to burgeon by around serven per cent and 11 per cent, respectively, this year, according to the latest container In tellignce Monthly, released by clarkson Research.

The positive forecast, which also projects that shipping demand will out strip carrying capacity by 2.7 per cent this year, follows the already favourable growth Indicators seen in the first quarter.

Earlier, the world Bank projected that global real gross domestic product (GDP) would grow by 2.7 per cent this year, after contracting by 2.2 per cent in 2009.

Other forecasts by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) suggested that nominal GDP would grow by as much as 4.5 per cent.

These forecasts seem to be improving almost on a daily basis.

However, there are a number of factors present in the global market that could threaten a true recovery this year, such as the Greek economic crisis, and the fear that Greece’s problems could spill over to other countries.

These developments will no doubt be watched carefully by the shipping industry, which is optimistic of not only a return to growth this year, but a relatively strong return.

Clarkson predicted that world wide container traffic would rise from last year’s 124 million TEUs to 135 million TEUs this year-representing a year on year growth of 8.8 per cent.

Although this growth may seem impressive, it is important to remember that the industry will be looking to not only grow from last year. but also to return to pre recession volumes.

If the forecast is accurate container shipping demand in 2010 will come in at just 1.45 per cent under 2008’s 137 million TEUs in global volumes, This essentially means that by 2011 the industry should be back on track after playing catch up this year.

NEW DELHI, MAY 20: INDIA and the European Union will soon begin discussions to reslove the issue of the seizures of the seizures of medicine consignments.

In this regard, a delegation led by the European Commission’s Director General for Trade, Mr David O’Sullivan, willvisit India to initiate the dialogue.

This follows India’s complaint to the World Trade Orgnisation (WTO) against the seizure of generic drugs.

The medicines were bound for Latin American and African markets.

According to the WTO dispute settlement rules, the parties concerned need to try and amicably resolve the issues within 60 days by entering into a mutual consultation process.

If the consultations fails, then the matter will be referred to the WTO Dispute Settlement Panel.

The Commerce Secretary, Dr Rabul Khullar, pointed out that trade disputes could be”messy, protracted and lead to political ill will.” Therefore, India wanted to resolve the issue soon.

India maintains that the generic drugs were compliant with international treaties and that they have helped in reducing the cost of life saving medicines.

NEW DELHI, MAY 20: The port of Antwerp container volume was 2,013,236 TEU in the first quarter, up 15.9 15.9 pc year on year from 1,736,648 TEU in last year’s first three months, This approached the 2,075,050 TEU mark achieved in 2008, which had been the best result in 10 years, said the statement from the port authority, adding that it had handled 42 million tonnes of freight in the first quarter, up 12.7 pc on the same period in 2009 and that containers made up 58 pc of the total. Throughput, haeing already risen back up to the level of 2008, grew 20.1 pc to 24,333,081 tonnes in the first quarter, In the first quarter, In the conventional breakbulk field 2,620,107 tonnes was loaded and unloaded, making this the only category that is down on 2009, said the statement. Steel products were 21.1 pc lower while transhipments of fruit, wood cellulose and paper remained stable Ro-re was up 1.8 pc to 807,157 tonnes with car numbers rising 22.7 pc to 197,472.

KOCHI, MAY 20: Despite global recession and a stronger rupee, marine exports crossed the $2-billion mark for the first time in the 2009-2010 fiscal, Ms Leena Nair, Chairperson of the MPEDA said. Indian seafood export volumes grew 10 pc to 6,63,603 tonnes while realisation grew 15 pc to Rs 9,921.46 crore during 2009-10. Foreign exchange earnings were up 10 pc at $2.105 billion. Ms Nair said the industry had been impacted by a host of factors beyond its control but for which the realisations would have gone up Rs 200 crore and $50 million during last year, shrimp continued to dominate Indian seafood exports accounting for 42 pc of dollar realisations. The strengthening of the rupee continued to daunt Indian exports. As a result the unit value realisation from shrimp export increased a meagre 1.53 pc, Frozen fish repositioned itself as the principal item in terms of quantity and second largest in value. Dominating the volume, it accounted for 38 pc of the total quantum of marine exports realising 20 pc of the total foreign exchange earnings.

Although cuttlefish exports continued to grow in volume and value, the foreign exchange earnings were hampered and there was seven pc decline in unit value realisation, while export of squid registered a nominal growth in volume, the realisation in rupee and foreign currency registered a fall. The EU continued to be the largest market accounting for 30 pc of the foreign exchange realisation.

NEW DELHI, MAY 20: Regional Container LInes (RCL) remained in the red for the first quarter of 2010. The intra Asia and feeder container line reported a first quarter net loss of THB342 million narrowing  from a loss of THB711 million in the same period in 2009. RCL said the company’s volume’s increased 7 pc in first quarter to 600,917 TEU. However, the company added that rates could not be in creased as lines started to compete for market share. Cost cutting exercises reduced RCL’s total expenses to THB3.97bn in the first three months of the year, but the company did not reach the breakeven point as fuel prices increased 10 pc and consumption increased as volumes rose.