Ease congestion: Vasan to ChPT

CHENNAI: Hours after an Express report on the  congetion at the Chennai Port Trust was published in these columns, Union Shipping Minister G K Vasan on Tuesday held a two-hour-long review meeting with the top officials of the ChPT  and directed them to take swift measures to set it right.The minister’s unscheduled visit and subsequent review meeting came in the backdrop of the ChPT’s ‘all  izz well’ claim. Express had reported that container evacuation from the port was badly hit due to growing congestion and that the port management was yet to take measures to address this.As per a statement released by the port management during the meeting, which saw the participation of all the top officials including its chairman Atulya Misra, Vasan deliberated on the steps needed to ease the traffic congestion on roads and the port gates. He also highlighted the need to find ways to immediately reduce the import and export inventory at the terminals.Interestingly, while the port management and the Minister were taking these all-important decisions pertaining to the evacuation of containerised cargo at the meet, the main stakeholders— like exporters and importers using the Chennai Port— were not even informed about the meeting.“Had we been invited, we would have apprised the minister about the real situation on how the whole congestion has started inside the port and the simplest methods to alleviate it,” a regular port user told Express,Meanwhile, R Santhanam, general secretary of the Port and Dock Labour Union, said, “We are thankful to the minister for reacting to our appeal made via Express on Monday to save the port from doom.” Further, “We would be doubly happy if the directions given by the minister on Tuesday are implemented by the management in letter and spirit,” he added.During the meeting, it was also decided that an additional bay could be opened at Gate Zero to facilitate the quick entry of trailers into the port. With the assistance of the city police, efforts would also be made to open Gate 2A and 10 for cargo evacuation for a longer duration, the release stated.