BackKolkata Port to appeal against single bench order of HC
On 11 Aug, the high court stayed the tendering process till 26 Sep after hearing petitions filed by four onshore cargo handling agents
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Bangalore: Kolkata Port Trust will file an appeal against a stay order by the Calcutta high court that stalls a process to select cargo handlers at its Haldia docks on the basis of royalty payments.
“We are ready with the appeal," Kolkata port trust chairman R P S Kahlon said over phone. “As soon as we receive the certified copy (of the order), we will file the appeal in the division bench."
On 11 August, a single bench of the high court stayed the tendering process till 26 September after hearing petitions filed by four onshore cargo handling agents.
Ripley and Co. Stevedoring and Handling Pvt. Ltd, J.M. Baxi & Co. and A.M. Enterprises are among those separately seeking to cancel the tendering process to engage cargo handlers.
Cargo handlers currently buy annual permits from the port paying Rs5,400 to be able to do business. But they don’t pay any royalty from the money they collect from exporters and importers.
The handlers are mandated to use port labour, equipment and storage facilities for which they pay rates approved by the tariff regulator to the port authority.
In the 21 July tender, Kolkata port had set a maximum cargo handling rate of Rs119.48 per tonne and a minimum royalty of Rs13 a tonne.
For evaluating the bids, a royalty of Rs13 for a tonne of cargo will be the floor level and the bidder shall have to quote rate of royalty above it. The price bid will be evaluated on the basis of the highest rate of royalty quoted.
To obtain permits to handle dry bulk cargo at Haldia docks, the highest quotation will be applied to all bidders.
This was the first attempt at auctioning licenses to onshore cargo handlers at any of the 12 ports owned by the union government.
These cargo handlers are engaged directly by exporters and importers to load and unload cargo from non-mechanized berths. They are paid by their clients but none of the money is shared with the port. This has led to complaints that the port was losing money because of the way the permits were sold.
“There is adequate competition among stevedores and shore cargo handlers, and market forces decide the rates," said T V Shanbhag, a Mumbai-based shipping consultant and maritime arbitrator. “If they are regulated and their licenses auctioned on royalty basis, the cost of exporters and importers will go up."
An adverse ruling from the court will also influence a discussion in the shipping ministry on auctioning licenses to onshore cargo handlers at other ports controlled by the union government.
The shipping ministry is examining the recommendations of a five-member committee of port trust chairmen that favoured imposing a ceiling on rates for loading and unloading of dry bulk cargo from non-mechanized berths.
The panel headed by Paul Antony, chairman of Cochin port, was opposed to picking onshore cargo handlers through a bidding process nor did it recommend that these agents pay a royalty or share revenue share with the ports.
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