PRESIDENT’S FORWARD
THIRTIETH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (2007 – 2008)

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am extremely happy to welcome you all to the 30th AGM of our Association. MANSA having completed 30 glorious years of service to you all, it was befitting to commemorate this grand event by publishing a Souvenir on this occasion. The Souvenir is now placed in your hands. The President’s Speech, Messages and the Articles from eminent shipping magnates and Acknowledgements etc. have been brought out in the Souvenir. I therefore would now present briefly the Annual Report for the year 2007-2008. As you know my tenure as President comes to an end today and a new and versatile President will take over from here onwards for the next 2 years. I must admit here that without the dedicated and hearty support from the Past Presidents, Executive Committee Members and all of you, my task would have been an uphill task. The smooth sailing of MANSA is attributable to you all and the Secretariat which has functioned most efficiently. I am very grateful to the Secretary General and the Secretariat.

1. THE STATUS OF ISSUES PENDING WITH CHARITY COMMISSIONERS OFFICE
Charity Commissioner’s Office has confirmed the change in the name of MANSA from BANSA and the Charity Commissioner’s fees are regularly being paid. The Charity Commissioner has also approved the change of Presidentship from Mr. C. S. Manohar to Capt. S. P. Rao. Following technicalities are yet required to be approved by the Commissionerate’s Office:
(a) Change in the Address.
(b) Change of Property.
(c) Change of Memorandum & Rules and Regulations of Bombay And Nhava-Sheva Ship Intermodal Agents Association to Mumbai And Nhava-Sheva Ship-Agents Association.
These matters are being pursued by our Chartered Accountant M/s T. M. Mullaji & Co. who has been reminded to expedite the issue. The matter stands there.
2. TRAFFIC TREND
The Container Traffic over the next 10 years i.e. upto 2016-2017, after reviewing the present trend shows the increase will be @ 23%. Following projections of container traffic and assessment of Port capacities (in million TEUs) are for Nhava Sheva (JNPT) and Mumbai (MbPT):

2.1   JNPT
JNPT handled 55.76m tons of cargo during the Financial Year 2007-2008 out of which the Container Traffic was 51.92m tons carried by 4.059m teus and achieved top rank for handling containers amongst all Major Ports. Thus it can be seen that the growth in the Container Traffic over the previous year was 61.54% while overall growth was 24.41% compared to the overall growth of 18.44% for the previous year. The Terminal-wise cumulative traffic handled as far as the containers are concerned for the year April 2007 to March 2008 was as under:
JNPCT = 1,260,923
NSICT = 1,508,056
GTIPL = 1,290,862
TOTAL = 4,059,841

The study of the commercial forecast for the next 10 years made after keeping in mind development of the Port Terminals, Railway and Road infrastructure development we can appreciably put the figures with an average growth of 18% every year in container traffic.


S.NO	Year	Growth in Container Traffic (in Million TEUS)
1	2007 – 2008	4.059
2	2008 – 2009	4.789
3	2009 – 2010	5.651
4	2010 – 2011	6.668
5	2011 – 2012	7.868
6	2012 – 2013	9.284
7	2013 – 2014	10.995
8	2014 – 2015	12.966
9	2015 - 2016	15.299
10	2016 - 2017	18.053

JNPT has drawn out development schemes for the shallow draft berth to be equipped with RMQs and the yard with RTGs. 330m Berth Extension at the Northern end of NSICT Terminal with back up area is the major project taken in the hand. The 4th Container Terminal has already been envisaged with 1200m length and draft of 14.5m. Thus creating handling capacity from 4.5m TEUs to 9m TEUs supporting infrastructure, widening of all the approach roads, flyovers, parking areas and a separate buffer yard are the main features of the development in JNPT.
2.2   MbPT
Mumbai Port has handled this Year 57.039m tons of cargoes and has ranked 5th in the overall cargoes handled by all the major Ports. MbPT has a massive development programme of about 54,000 Crores for executing various Port Projects like Offshore Container Terminal, deepening of Harbour Wall Berths for providing deep drafts (14.5m), dredging of entrance channel for achieving deep drafts of 14.5m, 2nd Chemical Berth at Pir Pau Jetty, Passenger Terminal, Beautification Projects for in and around Port areas etc. Apart from these the Port also has plans for construction of most modern Transit Shed of 1800m2 area capable of catering to the needs of transit storage for vessels of 4-5 Berths at one place with overhead Gantry Cranes for handling heavy steel cargo and parking for Import/Export cars etc. The contract for running OCT on BOT basis has already been signed and the Joint Venture firm M/s Gammon India Limited with M/s Dragados SPL have taken over BPS as part of their first phase of the OCT project and other actions are on the anvil. It is hoped that the project will be operational by end 2010.
We hope to see that Mumbai Port really turns out to be a multi-faceted Port catering to the needs of all type of cargoes including containers. It is expected that the overflow at JNPT would turn over to Mumbai Port and also attract incremental container traffic which is estimated to be around 2m TEUs per annum.

2.3   TRUSTEESHIP IN THE BOARDS OF MbPT & JNPT
I am pleased to inform you that MANSA has been honoured by both the Port Trusts MbPT & JNPT by appointing MANSA Representative in their respective Boards. This is the 1st time that MANSA is represented together in both the Boards and has an opportunity to partake in the decision-making process in development plans and operations and future growth in the shipping.
3. CONCOR
CONCOR has performed very well in dealing with the ICD congestion problem due to the Gujjar agitation when the northbound ICD traffic came to a grinding halt. Because of the swift action taken by CONCOR, normalcy has been restored. Now there are no pendencies of ICD Containers in JN Port. Another point CONCOR explained was that the increase in the freight tariff was due to the increase in freight rates by the Railways and that there is no increase done by CONCOR itself. CONCOR’s services are now found to be satisfactory.

4. EDI
There is a delay in implementation of EDI Systems in place as Customs EDI systems and the Ports PCS systems are yet to be inter-woven to achieve an eMedia and facilitate the Trade to achieve faster performances. Even though each system has been developed in the respective economically thriving sections like Customs and Ports, the inter-phasing shall have to be given prime importance otherwise the utilities of this system will not be fruitful.

5. CUSTOMS

It is heartening to note that JNCH and MbCH have played a pro-active role and have done a commendable job by facilitating more than 50 items which were bothering the Trade. Their main objective is to reduce the Dwell Time of cargo for clearance and thus helping in the Ports effort to enhance the throughput. It is also worth noting that Customs have cleared all the back log of the RV deposit refunds. They have been conducting regular Trade Facilitation Committee meetings and Open House meetings where all the Chief Commissioners of all the 3 zones interact with the various stakeholders and bring about solutions to the Trade problems.

MANSA Sub-Committees regularly interacts with the Custom Officers and their active follow-up action has resulted in solving many of our problems. I must thank both JNCH and MbCH for their pro-active support for the Trade and bringing in solutions to improve the Trade.

6. TAMP / GOVERNMENT

We have been interacting with TAMP Authorities as well as Government Authorities like MoS, MoC, CBEC and DG Shipping and are receiving good response and patient hearing. Issues are analysed and directions are issued well in time so that Trade problems are monitored and tackled

Amendments of Acts related to shipping viz Major Port Trust Act 1963, Customs Act 1962, Merchant Shipping Act and Lighthouse Act 1927 need immediate attention and necessary amendments to take care of present scenario of shipping, which I am sure my Successor will give priority.

I must thank TAMP as well as all Government Authorities for their continuous support in furthering the cause of shipping.

7. SUB-COMMITTEES
I am thankful to all the Sub-Committees who have performed well inspite of their individual busy schedules and brought about cohesive atmosphere of working in harmony for bringing in results.
8. OTHER ASSOCIATIONS

MANSA’s relations with CSLA, BCHAA, AMTOI, FFFAI, BCCI, IMC, MACCIA and other shipping related Associations have been on excellent terms. All these Associations wish to have representation of MANSA in all their occasions and meetings. Even all the Exhibition events connected with Shipping Conferences, Seminars etc. seek MANSA Logo and it has been our experience that invariably MANSA Logo is exhibited. It has been an honour to MANSA to have been in the forefront that its Logo has been more vividly felt amongst the Trade Authorities and Shipping interests etc. I place my appreciation and satisfaction that the MANSA Secretariat has been carrying onus of performing to their perfection.

During my two years of Presidentship of MANSA it was a learning curve and throughout this period exposure to all kinds of shipping related issues, complicated in nature, clearing the doubts and bringing about the desired results made me more knowledgeable for which I am indebted to the entire shipping community.

Ladies and Gentlemen, once again I thank you all for your presence here on the occasion of the 30th AGM and let us celebrate the 30th Anniversary.