INDIAN Shipping Minister Thiru Baalu has called on operators at the nation's busiest ports to prepare to implement plans to increase cargo handling capacity.
The call to raise the capacity of India's leading ports comes as they handled 296 million tonnes of traffic until November in the 2006-07 fiscal year, representing an increase of almost eight per cent over the corresponding prior year period. This comes on the back of higher vessel turnaround times and shorter pre-berthing times.
Mr Baalu also demanded that the Dredging Corporation of India take immediate steps to bolster its capacity by raising the number of dredgers and self propelled barges and upgrading its equipment to meet requirements to facilitate development works.
Moves are also afoot to standardise documents used during tender processes for port works to avoid delays to tendering procedures, a report by Mumbai's Daily News said.
Asian Shipper News
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