THOOTHUKUDI: In the wake of national lockdown, the shipment of containers on road for import and export from VO Chidambaranar port have been interrupted, resulting into stagnation of over 11000 Twenty Equivalent Units (TEU) at Port premises and at the yards belong to private Container Freight Station (CFS) functioning in the district.
The container movement was largely struck due to prevention of truck operations on roads and shipping agency employees, despite several thousand tonnes of cargo is being unloaded from the vessels at VOC port.
The union home ministry on March 25, had exempted cargo movements from the seaport for inland and export through trucks citing it as an essential services, during the lock down, through an addendum to the order issued on March 24.
However, the orders had not yet percolated to the police personnel on patrol, who stop the lorries and harass the drivers and shipping agency employees, said a senior official from VOC port, wishing anonymity.
After the central government agencies like VOC port and Customs authorities took the issue to the state government, it has been planned to issue travel passes for private shipping employees including lorry drivers so as to resume container movements on roads.
There are 16 CFS units, besides number of logistics, shipping and custom clearing agencies in Thoothukudi contributing to a regular shipment of containers for export and import. At least 1000 employees work directly and another 1000 work indirectly. Over 2000 lorries drive in and out the cargoes from Port and CFS. The lorry drivers are the key force in shipping the goods to other districts and states.
A senior manager of a private CFS said that the container stuffing and shipment has been affected due to lacking employees. Some of the containers are stuffed with perishable goods which need necessary reefers to ensure the product quality is safe, he said.
CII convenor and Thoothukudi CFS association president David Raja said that "We have sought the VOC port authorities to ensure arrival of minimum employees and lorry drivers to operate the CFS, he added. The lorry drivers are apprehensive of operating the lorries despite the the MHA order clearly mentions the truck can be operated, because of the police harassment in the mid way, he worried. Truck movement should be allowed on parallel to the vessel operations so as to maintain the economy in the state, he said.
Another CFS manager said that the lorry driver's families are panic gripped and they hesitate to allow the drivers, since they might be charged by police in the mid-way, he added.
A custom broker Ahamed Jan said, "I do clearance for at least 40 to 50 containers every day including 10 for export, however, the business has downed due to the restrictions of lorry movements, he added. According to Thoothukudi CFS association leaders, over 11000 TEUs including 5000 are stagnated at CFS premises and 6000 at VOC port premises and other bulk cargoes are left unmoved at port premises. The containers at port premises may attract ground rent after 3 days, they said.
According to port official, over 2.5 million tonnes of cargo and 60369 TEUs are handled for both import and export so far in the month of March, as on Tuesday.
VOC port traffic manager Prabakar told TNIE that, in consultation with the state government, they had planned to issue a form to all the CFS seeking the names of the employees essentially required for minimal operation of the CFS, in order to issue a travel pass and a transport certificate. Moreover, district police had appointed a police team to coordinate with the port authorities and CFS operators to sort out the problems in the mid-way, he added.
Officials of private berths expressed concerns over restriction of truck movements which is essential to ship the containers to the CFS and to their destinations in other districts. The decision taken by the state authorities should be circulated to all the district collectors in order to ensure safety transportation of the goods and protection for drivers, who are apprehensive of operating vehicles, they added.