Port and dock workers in the country are gearing up for a nation-wide agitation, even as the Centre prepares the Port Corporatisation Bill, which is expected to come up in the winter session of Parliament.

The recently concluded national convention of five major federations of port and dock workers at Kochi has drawn up an action plan to meet the emerging situation.

T. Narendra Rao, General Secretary of the Water Transport Workers’ Federation of India told Business Line that major ports in the country now face the threat of corporatisation, which would further lead to disinvestment or privatisation.

He recalled the time when major ports in the country handled 80-90 per cent of the total exim cargo. Today, half of this cargo is handled by private or new generation ports, which are not controlled either by the Government or by the regulator.  

According to Rao, healthy competition depends on an abundance of cargo within an accurate and specific logistic space. Merely creating facilities over the actual requirement and diverting cargo from major ports would pave the way for unhealthy competition. It even impacts the survival of major ports in the long run.

He cited the instance of Vallarpadam International Container Transhipment Terminal as the best example of over-capacity of ports. 

The five major federations of port and dock workers also passed several resolutions which included scrapping of TAMP; review of the dredging policy; the constitution of a major ports development committee; and regularisation of contract workers at the recently concluded national convention.

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