By Dominick Rodrigues 

Mumbai : In a major push for seamless trade, the new Inter Terminal Route connecting BMCT Terminal with the other four Container Terminals of JNPT was inaugurated at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), India’s premier container port  in Navi Mumbai, recently. 

 The Inter Terminal Route was inaugurated by Sanjay Sethi, IAS, Chairman, JNPT in the presence of Unmesh Sharad Wagh, IRS, Deputy Chairman, JNPT and HODs, JNPT Terminal Operators and other stakeholders. 

 The newly-inaugurated route is expected to reduce container movement distance between BMCT and the other JN Port Terminals from the existing 5 kms to 2.5 kms in one direction. This route is exclusively for the movement of TP (Transhipment) & ITRHO (Inter Terminal Rail Handling Operation) containers between BMCT and other terminals of JN Port, in offering a smooth and continuous flow of ITRHO and TP containers. 

 Noting that the inauguration of this Internal Terminal Route will help in smoothening the overall trade cycle and further enhancing efficiency, Sanjay Sethi, IAS, Chairman, JNPT said this will further streamline the movement of rail containers between BMCT with all the other four Container Terminals at the port. “JNPT has also taken various other initiatives under ‘Ease of Doing Business’ that has helped save significant amount of time and cost for the EXIM community,” he said. 

 The ITRHO aims to maximize train placement, track productivity, efficiency and cost-effective handling, while reducing dwell time of import ICD boxes, connecting export ICD boxes to respective terminals in time and also increasing rail quotient at JNPT. 

 Trade will be benefitted, as the new route would ensure timely connection of export containers arriving by trains in mixed condition to the particular vessel in any of the terminals and also enhancing the train handling time at JN Port. 

Overall, the new route is expected to increase the rail share and volume of Transhipment containers in JN Port, Sethi said, adding that this is a yet another significant move by JNPT — to provide ease of doing business to the EXIM community — in its endeavour to be among the best container port globally. 

 The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) at Navi Mumbai is the biggest container handling Port in India — accounting for around 52% of the total containerised cargo volume, across the major ports of India. Commissioned on 26th May 1989, in less than three decades of its operations, JNPT has transformed from a bulk-cargo terminal to become the premier container port in the country. 

Currently JNPT operates five container terminals: The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Container Terminal (JNPCT), the Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal (NSICT), the Gateway Terminals India Pvt. Ltd. (GTIPL), Nhava Sheva International Gateway Terminal (NSIGT) and the newly commissioned Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals Private Limited (BMCTPL). The Port also has a Shallow Water Berth for general cargo and another Liquid Cargo Terminal which is managed by BPCL-IOCL consortium.