Manish Jain at the Haldia port
on Monday. Picture by Dipak Pradhan
Haldia, Feb. 15: Two top logistic players on the country's east coast have joined hands with Haldia's dominant cargo-handler Ripley & Co, reinforcing its near monopolistic status in Bengal's largest port.
Bothra Group, known for its shipping empire in Visakhapatnam, and Orissa Stevedores Ltd (OSL), a major operator at Paradip, will partner Ripley for two projects aimed at reducing costs at Haldia.
While Bothra Group will build a floating terminal outside the port lock-gate to reduce the turnaround time for ships, OSL will put up two mobile harbour cranes for faster unloading of cargo from vessels.
"We had got the tender but then decided to work with Ripley because they understand the ground reality in Haldia," Navin Chand Bothra said while announcing the Rs 200-crore project at Haldia today.
OSL had won the contract to put up two giant cranes in Berth 8 with IRC, but the latter opted out of the joint venture paving the way for Ripley's entry. Bothra installed cranes in Berth 2.
OSL director Charchit Mishra called Ripley a natural partner and thanked its owners Srinjoy Bose and Shoumik Bose for the venture where Rs 65 crore has been invested.
When Bothra and OSL expressed interest in Haldia and participated in several tenders, a section of port users had hoped that competition would drive down the cost of business. They are not so hopeful now.
"It is evident that Ripley controls the gate pass to Haldia port. So the competitors have turned collaborators," a port observer said.
Manish Jain, deputy chairman of the Calcutta Port Trust, said several projects were being undertaken to reduce the cost of operation at Haldia. "We have to be cost-competitive compared with other eastern ports such as Dhamra, Paradip and Visakhapatnam," he said.
Ripley CEO Shoumik Bose said market dynamics determined costs in a free market economy and Haldia would have lost business if it was not competitive already.
"If port users don't benefit from working out of Haldia, they will anyway shift to other ports. The fact that cargo-handling at Haldia is still showing growth, proves that it is competitive," he said, refuting claims that his company, which handles more than 80 per cent of the onshore cargo, has driven up the cost at the port.
He claimed Bothra and OSL were excited about the opportunities in Haldia.
"It is for the first time three large operators of the eastern coast have joined hands," Srinjoy Bose of Ripley said.
Local Trinamul Congress MP Suvendu Adhikari, who is also the chairman of Haldia Development Authority, complimented Ripley for its contribution to the development of the Haldia Dock Complex and reminded that it had not lost any man day.
"Our union do not interfere in the work of handling agents (who work on the shore). We are not interested," he said, referring to recent reports that unreasonable worker demand had driven out a low-cost operator.
In 2012, ABG had exited Haldia following labour backlash laced with political overtones.
A CPT official said workers here were more aware of their rights and hence costs were higher. "We can't deny higher pay just to reduce cost."