Amidst such difficult times of the ongoing pandemic, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), registered a throughput of 283,802 TEUs in container handling. The import container volume handled by the port in April 2020 is 80% of the imports handled in April 2019; and the overall throughput is 63% of the cargo handled during April 2019, the Port informed today.
With factories opening amid the revised lock-down norms, the exports are also likely to witness a spike.
JNPT informed that it handled a total of 167 vessels in April 2020 and the overall turnaround time on Port a/c improved to 33 hrs from 39 hrs LY.
The port thanked all the terminals, Shipping Lines, Container Fright Stations (CFSs), Custom House Agents (CHAs), Transporters, CONCOR, Private Container Train Operators, Truck Transporters, BPCL Liquid Cargo Jetty & associated Tank Farms, Empty Yard Operators, Partner Government Agencies like FSSAI, Plant Quarantine linked to Port Operations who remained operational as per schedule and helped the port perform its duties during these difficult times.
To limit the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, JNPT announced an extension of waiver/remission/relaxations at all the Container Terminals at JN Port from April 15 to May 3.
Further, JNPT has extended relief to the trade in order to support Port users and end users, for example – No dwell time charges will be levied for all import/export containers moved by road and rail (CFS/DPD/Empty/ICD), No shifting charges will be levied for change of mode (i.e. truck to rail or rail to truck) and No shifting charges will be levied for DPD containers moved by rail after 48 hours to ICD Mulund or ICD Tarapur from April 13, as they have been declared as ‘extended port gates’ of JN Port.
Also, the Port has prepared an action plan for avoiding congestion and creating sufficient storage capacities inside and outside the Port. Extended Port gate facility has been made available for DPD containers at Mulund and Boisar. Additional storage capacity has also been created at CWC, Dronagiri node, where cargo is being moved through En-block movement.
“In the month of April JNPT handled 499 container trains, making it the highest number of container trains handled in a particular month. This also resulted in increasing the rail coefficient during the month to 22.39 % against the previous FY monthly average of 16.04%. This is a result of the perseverance of our workforce and in time diligent effort and support of all the stakeholder of JN Port. Our commitment towards ensuring that trade doesn’t come to a standstill even during the lockdown and has resulted in JNPT achieving these numbers. The entire family of JNPT will put in efforts to constantly evolve our operational efficiency and the port’s performance by maintaining all the safety protocols.”
~Sanjay Sethi, IAS, Chairman, JNPT
The port is carrying an extensive community disinfectant spraying and sanitation drive in all its nearby villages and is diligently deploying all the sanitary guidelines issued for the safety of its workforce with regular fogging and spraying of all buses and terminals to fight the respiratory virus.
Further, the port has provided Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to the pilots and has provided accommodation for the staff of terminals, drivers etc. in the Port township and also started free Bus shuttle services for the staff of essential services stakeholders for movement in the port area and CFSs, Empty Yards.
JN Port is also distributing specially made meals to the truck drivers who have been working tirelessly to keep the operations going at the Centralized Parking Plaza, GTI Holding Yard, NSICT Holding Yard & Parking No.1.