LOGISTICS OUR ACHILLES HEEL

LATE SEPTEMBER, a noted economist’s column in The Economic Times mentioned some fascinating facts about what is happening at our sea ports.

- Krishan Kalra

It was heartening to learn that, as per a 2023 study by the World Bank, nine Indian container ports were among the top 100 in the world! Vishakhapatnam, largely handling bulk commodities but with a small container section, had improved so dramatically that in one year its rank improved from 117 to the heartening 19th position in the world as our best port. Mundra in Gujarat came second with its world rank going up from 47 to 28. No mean feat, considering that port delays have been our Achilles heel for a very long time; we are all aware that till the late 1980s waiting time for ships to unload their cargo at Bombay used to be a painful 28 days.

Logistics Costs in India

I remember attending – as a guest of honour – India Week 2009 in Hamburg, at the invitation of IGEP (Institute of Global Economic Partnership) where several meetings were held for discussing ‘logistics costs in India vis-à-vis those in Europe’ and I had to cut a sorry figure because even 18 years after the liberalisation of our economy, we were still near the bottom as far as logistics costs – as a percentage of GDP – was concerned and Germany stood among the top rankers. If I remember correctly, our costs were around 15 per cent against nine per cent in Europe.