Shipping lines lose share in overseas trade

NEW DELHI, May 27: Handicapped by failure to keep pace with growth in trade, national shipping lines have lost their share in India's overs...

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NEW DELHI, May 27: Handicapped by failure to keep pace with growth in trade, national shipping lines have lost their share in India’s overseas trade for the fourth consecutive year. Their share in sea borne cargo traffic of about 223 million tonnes has slumped to 27.3 per cent in 1995-96 from 29.9 per cent in the previous year.

While the share of the national lines in India’s imports has dropped by about four per cent to 35.8 per cent in 1995-96 from 39.7 per cent in 1994-95, Their percentage share in export cargo has dropped to 16 per cent in 1995-96 from 17.2 per cent in the previous year.

Similarly, the national lines have received a setback in the dry and liquid bulk cargo segments.

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In the dry bulk cargo segment, their share has dropped to 15.6 per cent in 1995-96 from 18.5 per cent in the previous year as against a target of 50 per cent share. The performance was not any better in the liquid bulk cargo segment, where their share fell by over 3 per cent to 51.8 per cent in 1995-96 as against the industry’s target of over 80 per cent share in the POL products segment.

Incidentally, the national lines handle bulk of the crude oil imports.However, it is only in the liner trade (general cargo) trade that the national shipping lines managed to retain their share of 9.9 per cent as against India’s commitment under UNCTAD Liner Code of attaining 40 per cent share. In 1991-92, the Indian lines had a share of 15.1 per cent but it slumped to 8.8 per cent in 1993-94.

, the Indian National Shipowners’ Association (INSA) attributes loss of share of the market, to the "decanalisation, lack of incentives and tough market conditions". In the last two years, the Indian shipping tonnage has only gone up by a few thousand tonnes, from 7.02 million GRT in early 1995 to 7.15 million in February 1997.