Unlocking India's Coastal Shipping Business Potential
Unlocking India's Coastal Shipping Business Potential
Author: Charanya Krishnan“Whoever controls the Indian Ocean, dominates Asia. This ocean is the key to the seven seas in the twenty first century, the destiny of the world will be decided in these waters”.
- Alfred Thayer Mahan
Economically speaking, water has always been the oldest and most sustainable resource to man. Trade through water can be divided into:
Ø Inland Water Transport (IWT)
Ø Shipping (Coastal Shipping & Overseas Shipping)
A lot has been said about the concept of coastal shipping and the latent opportunities, which need to be hit upon in this segment.
WHAT IS COASTAL SHIPPING
Coastal shipping is an eco friendly, gainful and energy proficient mode of transport.
WHAT DOES THE DICTIONARY SAY
Coastal shipping is the movement of cargo by sea between ports in India, not including the non-contiguous island trades.
A BACKGROUND
India has been blessed with a long coastline of 7,517 kms. The physical features of the coastal regions of India are a sort of terra incognita. Coastal India is characterised by a combination of deltas. And the Indian ports owe their existence to the projection afforded by the natural bars and spits in the Indian coasts. India’s geographical setting has played a vital role in the progress of maritime activity. Infact the Indian waters have been an engine to aid the growth of trade.
Given that in the contemporary global economy, developed as well as emerging economies are emphasizing more and more on the importance of coastal trade and shipping, the answer to why India which today is very much firmly planted in the global business not doing as ‘Romans do’ is the pressing need of the hour.
This paper attempts to analyze the role of Coastal shipping in Indian business coupled with its unlimited potential and challenges.
ASSESSING PAST PERFORMANCE
The infrastructure in India has always provided tremendous potential for coastal shipping to take off. In the past, the flow of bulk goods from west coast hinterlands to the east coast hinterlands always followed the coastal route. For instance, coal from Kolkata was carried in bulk on regular basis by coastal vessels to ports around the country right up to Kandla and Bhavnagar! And salt in bulk was carried back to Kolkata either from Kutchh ports or Tuticorin.
In the past, the Karachi - Rangoon stretch vide Colombo was designated as coastal route. The ships carried rice in bulk as well as bags right from Rangoon to Chennai, Tuticorin and across to Kochi and even to Kandla and on the return journey salt, cement and clinker were the cargo carried to Kolkota.
Coastal vessels freighted small parcel sizes of general cargo such as spices, tea, coffee, cashew nuts coir and jute, until efficient containerization and equally rapid rail and road systems took over.
This marked the shift of proportionate trading activities towards other modes of transport such as rail and road rather than coastal shipping.
Although cargo is moved between Indian ports not only by dedicated coastal ships but also by
ocean going vessels the growth of coastal fleet tonnage is an indication of the growth of coastal
shipping. From 1992 to 2002, it had been hovering around 0.47 million GT and has increased only marginally to 0.6 million gross tonnes (GT) in 2003.
While the Indian overseas fleet registered 1173% growth in numbers from 1951 to 2003, the coastal fleet inched upwards in the corresponding period to 209%. Oversees fleet grew by 3256% between 1951 to 2003 whereas coastal fleet increased by just 172%.
India’s coastal fleet has been hovering around a meagre level of only 0.6 to 0.7 million gross tonnage (GT) during the last five years. Coastal cargo traffic during the period 1995-96 to
1999-00 grew at CARG of 5.41 per cent vis-à-vis the coastal tonnage growth in terms of capacity (GT) at CARG of 0.15 per cent.
Coastal cargo traffic during the period 1993- 2003 grew at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) pf 8.4% vis-à-vis the coastal tonnage growth in terms of capacity (gross tonnage) at CAGR of 2.5%. The total cargo moved by Inland Water Transport (IWT) in 2002 –03, was about 2 million tones corresponding to just over 1.5 billion tonne kilometer or 0.15 % of the total inland cargo.
Out of the 244 vessels in 2003, as many as 149 were non-cargo carrying vessels reducing the effective cargo carrying fleet to 95 vessels of 0.43 million GRT. Also the coastal fleet is old with as many as 65% of the cargo vessels over 15 years old.
THE PRESENT
The commodities carried by coastal shipping have mainly been bulk and break bulk commodities. The cargo mix has not changed over the years. The cargo currently moved through coastal shipping constitutes Thermal, Crude oil, iron ore, cement and others. Although cargo is moved between Indian ports not only by dedicated coastal ships but also by ocean going vessels the growth of coastal fleet tonnage is an indication of the growth of coastal shipping.
There are 12 major ports and a number of minor and intermediate ports providing tremendous potential for coastal shipping an economical, environment friendly and energy efficient mode of transportation.
Yet, coastal shipping in India has not developed to its fullest potential. This is precisely evident from the recent statistics. The potential for coastal shipping has not been exploited in India, with it accounting for only 7% of domestic cargo movement.
COASTAL SHIPPING VERSUS ROAD AND RAIL TRANSPORTATION
Coastal shipping has inherent advantages over rail and road transport. It is environment friendly, and usually much safer than road transportation.
Ø Fuel Consumption: Fuel consumption by coastal shipping at 4.83 g m/tkm is just 15% of the consumption by road and 54% of that by rail.
Ø Emissions: Emissions of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon etc with the exception of SO2 from coastal shipping are much lower than that in rail and road.
Ø Cost of Carriage: Coastal shipping can handle large parcel sizes easily. Whereas rail and road transport because of their limited capacity and infrastructure cannot handle large quantities of coal, iron ore etc. The cost of carriage of goods, from coast to coast, by coastal shipping (about 21% of cost by road and 42% of cost by rail) works out to be much lower than that by road and rail.
Ø External costs: Taking in account the external costs arising out of accidents, noise pollution, air pollution, climate change, congestion, infrastructure burden etc., the cost of coastal shipping as a percentage of road and rail transport is much lower. In the EU, the marginal costs of coastal shipping have been estimated at 20.7% and 40.5% of road and rail respectively.
INTER COUNTRY COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
Transport based on inland waterways (IWT)—rivers, canals, lakes, etc. and also overlapping coastal shipping in tidal rivers—constitutes 20% of the transport sector in Germany and 32% in Bangladesh. In India it has a paltry share of 0.15%.
The total tonnage (originating traffic) moved by coastal shipping in India in 2001- 02 was around 54 million tonnes of which coal accounted for 16.2 mt (30% of total) and petroleum products for 16.4 mt (30% of total). This is in sharp contrast to other countries like China where the coastal cargo traffic handled in 2000 was around 614 million tonnes.
The total coastal traffic at Indian ports in 1999-00 was just around 78 million tonnes (comprising around 31 million tonnes cargo loaded, 5 million tonnes transshipped and 42 million tonnes unloaded), which is abysmally low compared to the coastal cargo movement in other countries in the region.
For instance, in China, coastal cargo even before 1988 touched some 870 million tonnes, followed by Japan with 549 million tonnes, Korea 141 million tonnes and even Indonesia, which is not a developed country, having much higher coastal cargo movement of around 133 million tonnes.
Indicative of this not-too-healthy scenario, India’s coastal fleet has been hovering around a meagre level of only 0.6 to 0.7 million gross tonnage (GT) until some years ago. Coastal cargo traffic during the period 1995-96 to 1999-00 grew at CARG of 5.41 percent vis-`-vis the coastal tonnage growth in terms of capacity (GT) at CARG of 0.15 per cent.
Many other countries are making optimal use of coastal shipping as an effective mode of transport. In the EU for instance, coastal shipping has an enviable 43% modal share in tkm and is set to increase further.
WHAT AILS COASTAL SHIPPING GROWTH
With most of the production and consumption centers being land locked and the facility of door-to-door movement that road transport provides, it has taken precedence not only over water transport but also over rail transport.
Over the years, there has been a substantial amount of investment in creating and improving the basic infrastructure for road transport. However, this has not happened in the case of coastal shipping.
A review of the public sector investment in the transport sector since the First Five Year Plan reveals that the average investment in the shipping sector per plan was only 5% as against 51% for railways and 32% for road sector. Even this meagre investment was almost entirely allocated to overseas shipping. In the port sector also, very little investment has been made by the maritime states on the development of minor ports and by the Govt. of India / Major ports on creating earmarked facilities for coastal cargo.
Some of the key reasons for the inadequate share of coastal shipping to the trade activities are:
Ø Competition provided by rail and road transportation
Ø Double handling costs involved and
Ø Lack of active policy
Ø Cumbersome and lengthy customs procedure
Ø Non availability of concessional finance the acquisition of coastal vessels
Ø High import duties on bunker oil and spares
Ø High manning scales which increase operational costs
Ø Stringent specifications for construction of vessels leading to higher capital costs
Ø Incidence of corporate for coastal as against tonnage tax for ocean going vessel and
Ø Personal income tax, which discourages quality officers from continuity on India coastal vessels.
Ø Lack of separate berthing facilities at Major ports and inadequate cargo handling facilities at the minor ports
Ø Absence of institutional mechanism for inter-sector coordination
WHAT CAN COASTAL SHIPPING OFFER
Ø Tremendous cost-advantages to Indian trade
Ø Immense benefits of energy savings to the country’s economy,
Ø Boon of a cleaner and greener environment offered to society at large,
Ø Boost transshipment at Indian ports
Ø Enhance competitive edge of Indian exports
Ø Increase port’s potential to develop as hub-ports
Ø Increase revenues and opportunities for generating both direct and in-direct employment.
Ø Catalyze the development of an efficient and integrated transport and logistics system.
AN ANALYSIS
In spite of the obvious advantages that coastal shipping has over land-based modes in India, it has not grown to become an integral part of the country’s transport Infrastructure. Today, Coastal shipping in India is anchored almost where it was decades ago, despite the oft-repeated chant about its potential and the need to develop this mode of transportation. Though more than 30 per cent of the total traffic handled by the Indian ports is routed through the coastal mode, the sector continues to get the short shrift from the Government and the planners.
There is no gainsaying the fact that coastal shipping constitutes an important arm of the transportation system of any country, given its cost and environmental advantages. And this is more so in a country such as India, which has, a 7500 km long coastline, dotted with 13 major and 184 minor and intermediate ports.
A major reason is that coastal shipping has not been receiving the priority it deserves. Though it is a major link in the integrated transport infrastructure system, vital for the country’s economic growth, coastal shipping is yet to get the infrastructure status.
On a broad footing, we can say that coastal shipping has the capacity to create a huge number of linkages, which would strengthen the very base of business and trade.
Many committees have been set up by the Centre in the last few decades to review the challenges and prospects facing the coastal shipping sector in India. But the negligence towards the sector has led to the sector’s potential going largely underutilized.
In cases of cargoes like coal and iron ore, large quantities are required to be transported, which cannot be handled by road or rail modes because of their limited capacity and infrastructure. Infact POL and coal cargoes formed about 73 per cent of the coastal cargo handled at the major ports, with Ennore, Paradip, Tuticorin, Cochin and Visakhapatnam ports handling 50 per cent of this traffic. The fact that growth of coastal shipping is not an end in itself but a means to a larger development of the economy itself needs to be emphasized here.
For instance, Indian Railways probably would not be able to supply the 20,000 tonnes of coal required by Tuticorin thermal power plant in such a short span of time as two days. Ships, on the other hand, can handle such large quantities easily
Extending certain concessions in favour of coastal shipping can easily help in the increase of traffic up to 10 million tones by 2012. With the on-going schemes for development of roads such as the Golden Quadrilateral and East-West and North-South corridor projects, it will be relatively easier to connect these ports to the nearest points on the highways.
A possible option could be that the government diverts its own cargo as also that of its agencies to coastal shipping to the extent feasible. Besides measures such as reduction of maritime dues and wharfage on coastal vessels by 50 per cent and providing concessional cargo-related charges for all coastal cargoes will extend the much-needed fillip to this sector.
With on-going schemes for development of roads such as Golden Quadrilateral and East-West and North-South corridor projects, it will be relatively easier to connect these ports to the nearest points on the highways.
Also it can be observed from past trends that foreign ships are benefiting the most from the existing state of the Indian coastal shipping industry.
Ship owners need to move away from their traditional role of being just another link in the supply chain and gear themselves up to provide complete solutions.
Nevertheless, there is not enough inducement for Indian ship owners to invest more because of the long pending plans and recommendations of study reports that are yet to be implemented.
Factors like low productivity at ports has adversely affected operations, since coastal ships spend substantial time in ports compared to deep-sea vessels. Also, inadequate infrastructure facilities at intermediate and minor ports and the lack of concessions in custom duties for import of spares add to the cost. The lack of adequate, efficient and cheap ship repair and support facilities leads to a considerable delays. An acute shortage of repair facilities for coastal vessels, particularly small passenger vessels, is the other problem that continues to plague the industry.
A noteworthy effort is that despite the limitations, the Indian coastal shipping fraternity, on its part, has been making a vital contribution to the economy by serving trade and industry over the decades. Over the last few years, the Indian Coastal Conference (ICC) association of coastal operators has strengthened its foundations. Its membership has grown from 13 at the time of its inception in 1951 to over 30 in contemporary times.
Recommendations:
Statutory Requirements:
A clear-cut policy for the development of an integrated transport system needs to be evolved. Measures to remove various constraints procedural, operational, fiscal and legislative hindering the sectors growth needs to be undertaken.
Coastal ships, unlike ocean going vessels, have to pay duties on bunker oil. This duty increases the cost of operation of coastal vessels significantly. The cost of bunker fuel oil for a coastal vessel is reported to be higher than that for an ocean going vessel to the extent of around 28%,
and around 36% for High Flash High Speed Diesel.
Similarly, import duties on capital goods and spares also cast a burden on coastal shipping, as these vessels are heavily dependent on imported spares. Also, if the ship owners get their ships repaired at ship repair units, which are registered with DG Shipping, then the spares imported by these units are not subject to taxes. On the other hand, if the spares are imported directly or by any other route for repairs to be carried out by the vessel’s engineers, then no such tax relief are available.
Given that coastal shipping is much more environment friendly and fuel efficient than any other mode of transport, there is a case for providing tax
concessions both for fuels and spares .
To really serve the Indian trade by contributing quality and cost-effective services matching global standards, there is no alternative to minimizing the total transportation cost. This can be achieved only if a justly facilitative policy and supporting systems, rules and regulations and procedures similar to those existing in leading maritime nations are put in place. Similarly important, these policies and procedures must be implemented keeping in view the larger national interests, rather than getting stalled by restrictive interpretations of various legislations and rules.
There is a need for the Government to grant special status to coastal shipping so as to exempt it from Customs and other procedures that apply to the bigger cargo-carrying vessels
Taxation:
Corporate tax
Till date, the Indian shipping companies had to pay corporation tax at the rate of 36.75% or the
minimum alternate tax at 7.5%. The industry also enjoyed benefits under Section 33 AC of Income Tax Act. Additionally shipping companies now have the option of choosing between corporate tax and tonnage tax.
This benefit, has been restricted to ocean going vessels to make them competitive with vessels registered under other national flags, and is not available to coastal shipping.
Personal Income Tax:
The present system of income tax differentiates against the seafarers employed on Indian coastal vessels. Indian seafarers who are engaged on foreign vessels for 183 days or more in a year or on an Indian vessel, which work outside Indian territorial waters for more than 183 days in a year, are entitled to non-resident status and pay no taxes. This dispirits officers and seafarers from enlisting on coastal ships and makes it all the more obligatory to appraise the aptitude requirements and improve the emoluments.
Capital Intensive nature:
Shipping is a capital-intensive industry. In India, the cost of capital is higher compared to many other countries. To raise equity capital, shipping should attract investors. To enhance investor appeal for developing a larger equity base and encouraging larger investment in coastal shipping, time-bound solutions would have to be found for many of the complicated and vexing problems such as levy of Customs duty on spares, stores and bunkers imported by coastal operators etc confronted by the sector. Unlike other industries, the benefits of waiver from payment of import duty in shipping are available only to the intermediary (SRUs) who imports the spares and not to the end-user (ship owner) in the coastal shipping business.
Cabbotage law:
Cabbotage Law in most countries reserves the movement of coastal trade of the country for its
own flag vessels. In the international arena, majority of maritime nations protect their domestic transportation industries through cabbotage laws (imposing restrictions such as crewing restrictions, ownership restrictions, provisions for domestic fleet subsidy, reflagging restrictions, provisions for subsidy etc).
The Indian Merchant Shipping Act does not permit foreign bottoms to carry cargo between Indian ports nonetheless, foreign ships are permitted to ply between Indian coasts if no suitable Indian vessels are available.
These provisions while protecting existing Indian tonnage on the one hand, discourage the adequateness of coastal shipping in Indian tonnage. While on the one hand the Indian industry is not aggressive enough to increase the share of coastal shipping, on the other hand the Indian taxes and duties do not apply to foreign vessels. They usually operate under favourable taxation rules, subsidies and lower costs. Hence, foreign vessels have inherent advantages as compared to Indian vessels.
Relaxing the cabbotage laws could, therefore, impact on the growth of the Indian tonnage available for coastal shipping. It will help create a level playing field, given that the Indian coastal operators have been seeking exclusive rights of operation for the members to ensure sustainable development of coastal shipping for quite sometime now. The option of reintroducing cabbotage laws once again on attaining sustainable costal cargo growth levels could also be considered.
Ship Acquisition:
The coastal tonnage in India has been more or less dormant. One of the reasons for this, apart from the productivity of coastal shipping, is the complexity in getting finance at low interest rates. Although coastal ships are also permitted to external commercial borrowing, they are effectively not in position to do so as they do not earn in foreign exchange.
Increasingly companies have no alternative but to rely on conventional bank funding. Banks are not prepared to deal with the financing of ships as it entails high interest rates and short maturity. There is, consequently, a case for developing specialized wings in development financial institutions for funding coastal shipping.
Manning Scale:
The manning scales for the coastal shipping industry continue to be stringent. Now coastal ships have to comply with the scales that are applicable for Near Coastal Vessels that ply between India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Maldives. There is scope to review both the manning scales as well as the qualifications.
Cost of Vessels:
Keeping in line with the Merchant Shipping Act, the specifications used for the construction of coastal vessels are the same as those for ocean going vessels even though coastal vessels are not subject to the same stress and turbulence as ocean going vessels. This has led to capital costs of coastal ships being higher than necessary.
Suitable amendments need to be made in order to enact a separate legislation for coastal shipping to provide for different specifications for coastal vessels as also for lower manning scales.
Ports:
Efficient shipping operations, whether international or coastal, depend principally on efficiencies in the ports. Coastal shipping, like international shipping, requires competent bulk cargo handling facilities and speedy berthing facilities; in addition coastal shipping requires concessional port tariff.
While major ports have the crucial handling facilities, they do not accord the necessary consequence to coastal vessels due to their pre-occupation with ocean going vessels as they generate more income.
The Major Ports do not have acknowledged berths for coastal shipping nor do they give precedence to coastal vessels. At the appeal of government, coastal vessels are now enjoying a 40% concession in vessel related tariffs and cargo handling charges (except for thermal coal, crude oil and POL) as compared to ocean going vessels. As this concession has been fixed as a percentage of the tariffs for ocean going vessels there is an element of ambiguity. There is a need to fix the tariff at low levels instead of relating them to the tariffs of ocean going vessels, which are periodically revised.
Rail and Road Connectivity:
Along with the development of minor ports, it is vital to provide for connectivity of the
minor ports with the road and rail network. Ports like the Pipavav port had suffered because
of the lack of connectivity, and the Pipavav – Surendranagar rail link was established by the port of Pipavav in joint venture with the Indian Railways.
Given the belief that the Phase 3 of the National Highway Development Programme would provide for connectivity to the minor ports; higher priority and weightage needs to be assigned to this.
Inland Connectivity:
India has an extensive network of rivers, lakes and canals, which, if developed for shipping and
navigation, can provide resourceful inland connectivity. It has approximately 15000 kms of
navigable waterways. Conversely, at present Inland Waterway Transport forms a very diminutive part of the total transport network. In terms of tonne kilometers of total inland cargo, its share is a paltry 0.15 per cent. Most of the waterways suffer from a number of inadequacies like navigational hazards and lack of infrastructure facilities like terminals and inadequacy of navigational aids. In contrast, in countries like China, Netherlands, and Germany etc. the IWT system is highly urbanized. China is directing a lot of investment towards further developing the infrastructure and system. The Yangtze river in China moves around 80% of the countries IWT traffic. Potential of planning vessels, which are capable of moving in IWT as well as coastal areas, should be explored. The promotion of IWT concurrently with coastal shipping would go a long way in moving cargo from up country locations to major/minor ports for movement between ports in India.
Custom designed vessels:
It is essential to design vessels like Ro-Ro vessels, silo vessels etc to facilitate the movement of trucks over long distances and cargo like cement and food grains efficiently. Konkan Railways has demonstrated that Ro-Ro wagons can effectively shrink movement by road; Gujarat Ambuja Cements move significant quantities of cement using silo vessels through water transport.
Correspondingly, the use of vessels like catamarans and hovercraft to move passengers, for example from Mumbai to Navi Mumbai and between cities on the Konkan Coast needs to be
encouraged. Precise origin and destinations need to be recognized for the transportation of passengers through coastal vessels.
PRACTICALITY OF COASTAL SHIPPING
Major contributors to the cost of coastal shipping are:
Ø Handling costs (35 % - 50%)
Ø Charter Hire costs (20% - 33%)
Ø Port Dues (10% - 20%)
Ø Bunker Costs (13% - 30%)
Coastal shipping can be made practical and viable by reducing these costs. Also the increased development of coastal shipping and minor ports, a vessel should be allowed to call at more than one port during its voyage.
Cargo reservation is not the answer to coastal shipping development. The consignor should be free to choose the mode of transport that is most economic and appropriate for his needs. What is essential is to identify specific origin-destinations on which identified cargo can move at lower costs through coastal shipping than by road/rail and create the necessary facilities for handling the cargo at both ends. The selection of minor ports should be done on this basis.
One of the thrusts of the government in recent years has been to promote coastal shipping and raise its share in the movement of inland cargo from 7% to about 15% in 2025.
Undoubtedly coastal shipping will prove to be the most viable and energy efficient mode of transport in the years to come.
COASTAL SHIPPING – A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY
Looking at the inherent advantages in the coastal shipping sector, the urgent requirement is to promote the growth of the sector.
Holland provides a fiscal incentive equivalent to the freight cost incurred in coastal transport. Similarly, government should consider allowing a credit of say of about 150% of actual freight cost in calculating the taxable income of the consignor company on the lines of the tax benefit provided for R&D in the automobile industry in the recent budget. In financial terms, the loss of revenue to the government would be more than off set by the savings in cost of oil imports and in overall external costs.
Coastal shipping is a new opportunity on the horizon for India’s economic development. Coastal shipping’s potential lies in transporting less time critical freight. It represents an environmentally beneficial and cost effective alternative to rail and road modes, for bulk cargo shipped over long distances. Also it does not require the same infrastructure investment or maintenance
At the end of the day shipping is still the cheapest way to run large volumes of cargo long distances – by a mile. You do not have to construct a highway. You have to have a
channel but once you get out to sea it is blue water. You do not have to
maintain anything, apart from your channel.
The author Ms Charanya Krishnan is an economist by profession
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-opportunities-articles/unlocking-indias-coastal-shipping-business-potential-308427.html
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