JOC Staff | Jan 21, 2013 6:10PM EST
India’s Chennai Port Authority has announced a new one-year concessional scheme for vessel-related charges levied on mainline calls.
Port officials said the revised scheme, which replaces concessional rates announced in January 2010, would remain in force until Dec. 31, 2013.
“As the previous scheme was advantageous only to a few mainline container vessel operators, the new scheme has been formulated taking into consideration the number of voyages, volume and gross registered tons (GRT) of vessels,” the authority said.
The scheme, which is aimed at lowering operational costs to remain competitive with other ports in the region, offers concessions ranging from 20 to 55 percent on prescribed service fees applied by the port authority.
“The quantum of concessions would be worked out based on the total mainline container volume achieved by a particular service run by individual mainline vessel operator or service partner during the year linking with GRT of vessels,” it said.
Chennai is India’s second-largest container gateway. The port handled 1.56 million 20-foot-equivalent units in fiscal 2011-12, which ended March 31, 2012, up from 1.52 million TEUs the previous year. Throughput from April through December 2012 was virtually flat year-over-year, at 1.17 million TEUs.
