BackRipley quotes highest royalty for handling cargo at Haldia
The stevedoring firm was bidding for the first tender run by the Kolkata Port Trust to select dry bulk cargo handling agents
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Bengaluru: Ripley and Co. Stevedoring Pvt. Ltd has quoted the highest bid for the first tender run by the Kolkata Port Trust to select dry bulk cargo handling agents, who load and unload cargo at the non-mechanized berths of the Union government-owned port’s Haldia dock.
Currently, the agents buy annual licences from the port by paying ₹ 5,400 and handle cargo for exporters and importers for a fee.
They do not pay any royalty to the port, leading to complaints that the port was losing money because of the way licences were sold.
However, these cargo-handlers are, by law, mandated to use port labour, equipment and storage facilities, for which rates set by the port tariff regulator are paid to the port authority.
A spokesman of the Kolkata Port Trust said Ripley and Co. agreed to pay ₹ 14.77 for every tonne of cargo handled. The port’s 21 July tender had set a maximum royalty rate of ₹ 119.48 per tonne (ceiling rate) and a minimum of ₹ 13 a tonne (floor rate).
According to the tender terms, all bidders who quoted less than the highest bid will now be asked if they can match the highest bid. All bidders willing to pay the same royalty will be issued licences for a two-year period.
“We will now ask seven other bidders if they are agreeable to match the highest royalty quoted by Ripley and Co. Those who are agreeable to match will be given the licence; others will not be," the Kolkata port spokesman said.
This was the first attempt at auctioning licences to on-shore cargo-handlers at any of the 12 ports owned by the Union government.
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