A new model for old infrastructure

So, is Dharamtar’s model – switching to satellite port to serve JNPT – repeatable?

“I think it’s rather difficult to repeat inside India, infrastructure costs are high and the Indian regulations are not that water-transport friendly – but most of all you don’t have the industries sited along the coastline the way you do in much of China, or even parts of the European river and canal systems. However, if you ask if this kind of operation is repeatable outside India, I’d say ‘absolutely’,” says Sameer Varma of Tuscan Projects.

Gagan Seksaria of ICTSI’s Africa region picks up this point and explains that around the world there’s a number of facilities which have several usable quays either within the port or in neighbouring areas that have fallen on hard times because their historic purpose has diminished in relevance or value. For instance, there are old grain mills in West African ports which have their own waterfront to offload imported grain directly from the ships. A number of these mills are now either defunct or underutilised and can be turned into profitable ventures such as barge-linked buffer yards, CFS or warehouses, all of which could help to decongest the main port and provide a viable logistics alternative to the trader.

“This concept can be successfully deployed in many places in the world, especially in Africa which is blessed with wide rivers going deep inland and often connecting to huge lakes surrounded by multiple countries.” says Mr Seksaria. It’s especially relevant to Africa, he says “because more often than not, overall supply chain inefficiencies and costs from ship to shop are high enough for the cargo to take a different route and still be left with at least some cost savings and significant efficiency gains”.