Delays at clogged Nhava Sheva terminals

Delays at clogged Nhava Sheva terminals    Maersk Line has warned customers that it is experiencing major delays in India's largest container port, the Nhava Sheva complex, due to what it called 'severe congestion.'
   'The current yard inventory has exceeded the normal yard capacity of the terminals,' Maersk said in a note on its Web site. There are 'limitations on evacuation of import boxes from Nhava Sheva to inland container depots (ICDs), creating long dwell times in Nhava Sheva even on special service requests.
   'Heavy yard inventory (is) causing delays in the shifting of export boxes from common rail heads to respective terminals, which in some extreme cases are leading to missed connections,' the company said.
   There is also a 'shortage of pilots, leading to delays in berthing and unberthing of vessels. Unfortunately, the congestion is causing service delays for our export and import customers, and we are concerned that, with the monsoon season and peak season approaching, it will be some time before the situation normalizes.'
   Maersk said it is diverting exports and imports to and from North India to inland container depots via the Port of Pipavav, which lies several hundred miles north of Nhava Sheva in Gujarat, to help ease the congestion and provide better transit times.
   Maersk sister company APM Terminals operates common-user container terminals in Nhava Sheva and Pipavav.
   India’s container traffic was up 22.7 percent in April.