India aims to broaden port regulatory powers

India aims to broaden port regulatory powers India's Shipping Ministry on Monday proposed new legislation that would broaden the power and scope of the country's ports regulator, according to a report in The Hindu.
   The legislation would create a new agency, the Major Ports Regulatory Authority, to replace the current Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP). The name change is more than cosmetic, as it indicates the new regulator would have control over more than just tariffs at India's 12 large state-run ports.
   Private terminal operators in India, such as PSA International and DP World, have bristled at TAMP's decisions to keep tariff levels down in major Indian ports, such as Nhava Sheva, Chennai and Tuticorin. TAMP acts primarily on behalf of port users to ensure that costs are not too burdensome, but the private operators insist that service levels have risen from previous times, when the government operated container terminals, and that tariffs should reflect that improvement.
   The legislation would give the ports regulator new authorities. It would 'lay down the performance norms and standards of quality, continuity and reliability of service to be provided by the port authorities and private operators,' the newspaper report said. 'It is also required to monitor actual performance and services levels provided in the port with a view to secure compliance of such prescribed norms and standards by the port authorities and private operators.'
   The new authority would have three members and a chairperson, as opposed to TAMP's two members and a chair.