Article - 116 Week 47 Big Ports & Small Users

Article - 116 Week 47  

Big Ports & Small Users

We have heard the same noise from the top. Especially so when there is a change of guard. It's all about increasing the port capacity to some staggering numbers. In reality we see all our capacities being abysmally under-utilised. Big ports, big management teams, big Unions, big BOTs, big regulators, and big rules have reduced the end users to smallness of comical insignificance. Under utilisation of port capacities, drops in exports, and imports do not logically call for mindless expansion of capacity. What it calls for is an introspection on the pain points of the industry and try to eliminate them. There are two principal reasons why logic is being sacrificed and mindless capacity expansions are being espoused. First is a straight line thinking of extrapolating the past into the future, without paying a hoot to the present. Second is building big projects to generate big political incentives. It's a 'monkey see monkey do' syndrome of mimicking the capacity building madness of China to justify clever political ideas of generating dirty wealth.

Our ancient labour laws are killing the manufacturing industries. Our ports are hostage to hostile and greedy unions and political meddling. We still inherit mountains of archaic laws to stifle free trade with outside. Our bureaucracy is being pampered into being more and more obstructionist and rent seeking in dispositions. Infrastructure leading to the ports are being paralysed from time to time, by various rent seeking  mobs at the behest of political outfits. The genuine investor is being made to bleed, while the shadow investors of political big daddies are given the full freedom to perpetuate their monopoly on roadways. Under such gruelling atmosphere, Potential with a capital 'P' would never become a possibility, even with a small 'p'. Only a fool would build a bigger house, when his very premises are being systematically squatted and squandered. We hope and pray that our leaders look into the real problems rather than seek solace in an illusive capacity building madness. Having said that, I do not propose that capacity building is a bad thing at all. All I say is that it's a bad priority on the face of things today. The things that need urgent fixing.

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Brgds

Capt Rath

Article - 115 Week 45 The Tears & The Fears Of Onions

Article - 115 Week 45  

The Tears & The Fears Of Onions

Indian Onions are scary. They threaten Politicians, worry common man, drive farmers to extreme desperation, and above all make our container industry tango to the whimsical bans & restrictions on exports. Governments have fallen in the past due to wild price rises on onions and farmers have been financially ruined with abysmal drop in prices. And today the ghost of the past looms large on politics. Reason and good economics have taken the back seat. Draconian, pedestrian, and restrictive legislations are the order of the day. 

So fas as container shipping goes, onion is one of the cargo that helps reposition containers from export deficit ports in India to our richer neighbourhood - at throw away freights. With free flow of exports of onions both farmers and container shipping attain some level of stability and predictability. The export freight on onions may be very low, but the repositioning of the containers helps reduces the costs for the shipping lines, while the artificially low freight helps our farmers' competitiveness.  The costs of storage, idling equipments, & dead space on feeder ships are saved. This cost saving is indirectly passed on to freight rates on both imports and exports. The invisible hands of Adam Smith's free market does it in the background. Any obstructionist move by the government policy on free exports of onions, results in throttling the margins of the farmers, increasing the costs of shipping lines and related industries, and above all puts large stamps of unreliability on Indian supplies to overseas buyers. In fact, the objective of keeping prices of onions low for the domestic consumers by such obstructions is an illusion and adversely affects the very purpose. Such artificial depression of the price hits farmer hard. He bears losses and avoids growing them in future. Such massive abstaining of farmers for this crop, results in scarcity and price spikes. Such a situation has driven the prices so high that government has been forced to allow free imports of onions to cool the prices at home with huge forex losses. Keeping onions freely exportable and importable, will keep our farmers in a stable state to grow more. Wild fluctuations in prices will not happen. There will be a cost advantage to the shipping lines that would pass down to our other exports and imports costs. There would be no need for the government to intervene or fabricate stories to cover up for the wild spikes. The traders are so many in number that it is impossible for them to act in tandem to hoard for profiteering. Only in a controlled market, when the traders realise that price are going to go up because imports and exports are not free, there would be the tendency to hoard. Freedom boosts productivity. Restrictions boosts poverty.

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Brgds

Capt Rath

Article - 114 Week 43 Mate’s Receipt – A Ghost Document

Article - 114 Week 43 

Mate's Receipt – A Ghost Document

Long long time ago, the person responsible for loading & securing  goods on board a ship was called  'mate'. He saw the goods with his own eyes. He would issue a receipt for such goods. And that was looked upon as authentic and nonpartisan. The Bill of Lading was prepared and issued by the Master on the basis of this document. These days, 'mate' is commonly known as Chief Officer. On container ships, he facilitates the loading of the sealed boxes. The boxes are filled by the shipper. The contents of the box are certified by the Customs Officials on a document known as 'Shipping Bill' in India. The box travels hundreds and at time thousands of miles under Customs seal & bond to the port. Then the box is stored inside the Port premises until the vessel arrives.  And before our Chief Officer could wink , the same is loaded on the vessel as per the plan prepared by some one sitting as far away as Timbuktu. The 'mate' has absolutely no clue as to what could be inside the mystery box – nor does he care, unless it has some nuisance value on the ship's operations or safety.

Let's follow the shipping bill. This document is made just before the cargo is stuffed inside the box. The customs watch the cargo go in as per the shipping bill. Then it is sealed. At various stages of movements the custom's officials stamp them along to authenticate progress. Then the box is loaded on the ship. The final thing is to certify that – the said box is loaded on the vessel and the vessel has left the port. This is where the catch lies. The customs need the 'Mate's Receipt' to make a notation of same on the Shipping Bill. As described above, our Chief Officer is completely clueless on what goes inside thousands of such boxes being loaded and even unsure if all the planned boxes are loaded by the Port in the first place. So nailing responsibility on Mate's Receipt (issued by the box operator's agent on behalf of the Mate) is an extremely unreliable act. The correct source of this information lies with the Port or its nominated surveyor – not a Mate who is no more to be seen on the scene after the vessel sails and glaringly innocent of such information. That authentication only leaves him or his agent as a scapegoat if things go wrong.

It's time we stop this archaic, irrelevant, and witch-hunting system of pinning responsibility on a ghost's agent and loads of meaningless duplicity. Shipping bill and EGMs are contextually one and the same thing. A few additional information and authentication by the Carrier's agent on the Shipping Bill would render it to be the  'Export Manifest'. This simplification, would make a big dent on the much talked about 'transaction costs' on exports in our country.

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Brgds
Capt Rath

Article - 113 Week 42 Import Process With A Big Hole

Article - 113 Week 42

Import Process With A Big Hole

Imagine 100 containers in the middle of Mumbai. Loaded with deadly explosives. The remote trigger is in the hands of a terrorist. One click & boom! I am not talking about a Bollywood movie or sensationalising triviality. I am talking about real life situation in our industry.

A whole lot of goods are purchased by Indian entities from overseas. Millions of containers are entering as imports in a year. 'A' sells (Overseas Seller)- 'B' buys (Indian buyer)- 'C' carries (Shipping Line) – 'D' handles the imports(Agent) – 'E' declares the goods to Customs (Sub-agent or Surveyor) – 'F' moves the cargo on land (Bonded Transporter) – 'G' stores (CFS, ICD, Port) the goods in containers for delivery to 'B'. Interestingly & dangerously, 'B' is a silent sleeper until he wakes up to claim his cargo after paying the duty. He could sleep for months to years to even infinity. 'E' on behalf of 'D' declares the details of the incoming goods and identity of 'B' etc . You call it IGM. 'C' has no knowledge about the identity of 'B' – except as declared by 'A'. 'C' has extremely limited control on what 'A' puts inside his box, in a foreign land with alien laws & practices. 'B' could be a fiction or could choose to be a fiction at the time & place of his choice. Our Customs Laws are ruthlessly merciless towards 'D' for any slight. 'D' has to declare the IGM 48 Hrs (On behalf of 'C') before vessel arrival, while 'B' could be sleeping in Honolulu. Be it missing a 'comma' in the IGM or a thermonuclear bomb as cargo – 'D' shall be pulverised to shreds by the Indian Authorities.

The solution needs no rocket science. It needs plain common sense. 'B' must have a face and 'B' must declare what he is bringing, before the goods land in India. Until 'B' has a face and he is made to own up his goods before they arrive on our shores, we are just sitting ducks, praying to God almighty that this never happens.

Brgds  

(Capt Rath) Skype Gtalk MSN :  psrath

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Article - 112 Week 40 | God's Advocate In General Average

Article - 112 Week 40 |    

God's Advocate In General Average 

Extraordinary expenses, peril, common adventure, and many such porous and subjective words are cleverly woven to make ransom look like a lollypop. You pay a carrier to carry your cargo. The carrier goofs up and the vehicle catches fire. Then the carrier proves that God was responsible for the disaster, by weaving such clever words. He calls it "General Average" and arm-twists  you to pay - to both douse the fire and repair all the damages caused in the fire and the delays. And that is known gloriously as International Law in shipping.

 

Think of one of those silly mob movies. The Don kidnaps a few rich kids. Then he calls the rich Dads and gives them the bad news in an emotionless threatening drone. Then you see a lot of tears, howling, wailings, and the desperate prayers. Anxiety levels soar.  All eyes on the silent phone box. A second call comes with the sad cry of a kid. Then the Don drones at the rich  Dads to fax him their latest IT returns. A fax machine in Dubai purrs into life. A long wait of another two days. A demand for ransom comes in. The richer Dad pays more as per Don's justice system. Next call specifies the time and vicinity for the ransom collection. Ransom is collected. Then the Police enters.

Shippers load cargo on board M.V. Amsterdam Bridge from Nhava Sheva. The ship loads and leaves port. There is a fire on board ship. The 'Hows' and the 'Whys' are unknown to outside. The owner of the ship declares 'General Average'. The shippers panic and howl. The ship owner appoints smart lawyers as Adjusters. Shippers are instructed to send their Commercial Invoices & Packing Lists to determine the value.  The adjusters will see the value and send demand notes to the shippers. The full amount will be cost plus to cover more costs for the ship owner. The shippers would pay the demand amounts and sign a Bond. The Bond is cleverly worded by very smart lawyers to take away any possibility of recourse by the shippers. Then the cargo would be released at any point of choice by the owner.

Unfortunately, there are many small shippers in a container ship carrying thousands of boxed cargo, who are victims of this extortion. It's nearly impossible for them to join hands together to hire smart & expensive lawyers to prove that it was not God who set the ship on fire. In case God still escapes unblemished, the law stipulates that the owner of the vessel shall not be responsible for the mistakes of his employees and therefore it would tantamount to an act of God. Under such damning conditions, who will be God's advocate?

Brgds  

(Capt Rath) Skype Gtalk MSN :  psrath

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Article - 112 Week 39 | Idealistically Speaking

Idealistically Speaking

The producers and creators are  indeed  prisoners in a stifling system. Freedom is preached and stolen in the same breath. When you need to sell your product or creation to another legal entity, the government jumps in. You need a license to sell and a tax to pay. The buyer needs a license to buy -  more oppressive in the B2B & B2G domain. A Shipping agent needs a license or permissions from the Customs, the Port, the Municipality, the Service Tax Department, the Income Tax Department, the PF Department, the ESIC Department, the Labour & Welfare Department, the Professional Tax Department, the Fire Department, the MMD, the DG Shipping, the Plant Quarantine, and so on. A ship owner is even worse off. There are far too many Government agencies not only slowing things down in our industry, but also robbing away the edge we could have over our competition in the world stage. It's eating away into our economic and social well being.

We can not wish away all these multitude of Government institutions, agencies, and sub agencies. They have their roles. Even if they don't have their roles, they would continue to be there as a nuisance agent - like our Light House Authority. However, all these multitude of unfair licenses, permissions, and taxes can easily be capsuled into one window. In other words, one window for permissions and to collect taxes. On the Tax front, they need to merge all Central, State, Municipality, and other Taxes into one Window. Then the Government can share the spoils among various bodies in a fair and equitable manner as they deem fit.  Even if they quarrel internally, the businesses & the people are not unduly hurt.

Such  reforms could change our industry from one of the most laggard to one of most celebrated one. This appears wishful thinking at this point of time. However, there is a need for us to dream of such possibilities to liberate us from the tentacles of mediocrity. May be in a distant future our dreams will come true. 

Article - 110 Week 36 | IAS Vs IMS – Indian Maritime Services

Article - 110 Week 36 |   

IAS Vs IMS – Indian Maritime Services

We have had a a lot of good things in place and the nation has benefitted tremendously on them. Having said that, we also need to reflect that, we inherit and continue to create a whole lot of dumb policies, administrative mechanisms, legislations, and regulations in our industry. This toxic cocktail can transform any sensible administrator into a disillusioned god airdropped with unlimited sanctions. One such joke is going around that we should have IMS in direct mocking competition with the elite IAS mandarins. We should realise that this IAS thing is a continuation of the colonial system of governance for tax extraction and oppression of the people. This service has done more disservice than service to the people of this nation. A class among classes, they are second to none – not even their political patrons at times. They are the shadow dictators in their own realms. They are perfectly insulated from the naked ground with varying castes of Babudom. Protected by the system for all their foolishness, they perceive themselves to be infallible all-knowing geniuses. They write rule books in volumes. If one man in a billion breaks their rules, they punish the entire billion. Their rule books are in large volumes. But all of them leak. All of them stink. All of them punish the majority and favour a handful. Political leaders in most cases are severely intimidated with these tricky & incomprehensibly large rule books in the fear of breaching the constitution. 

The talked-about IMS will create many more such creatures with a seemingly all-round technical know-how, with more devastating mindsets to obstruct all things that move. Probably with more precision! Administrators need not be technically sound and thorough in the nuts and bolts they administer. If that was the case, the CEOs of all successful engineering companies like GE or L&T will be only engineers, or the CEOs of all healthcare companies would be doctors. While technical skills are immensely valuable for execution, it becomes equally limiting for administration and management. Administration and management is in itself a very specialised domain, where you need a whole lot of innate qualities of leadership with empowering education & training in administration and management. India recruits a majority of poor or mediocre administrators in the name of IAS or IPS, purely on the basis of rote-power, IQ, & language skill, ignoring the most important factors of leadership, like higher human values and EQ(Emotional Quotient). So talking about IMS is like talking about aping grotesque imperfection. At least the IAS folks have the edge on IQ and linguistic skills. And the proposed IMS guys would be below par on these departments. If this IAS stuff has been a dumb idea for ages, this IMS will be the dumbest of them all.

Brgds

Capt Rath 

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Article - 109 Week 35 | Manu’s Matsy Nyaya

Article - 109 Week 35 |   

Manu's Matsy Nyaya

Taxes need to be just and fair. And "just" also means giving more advantage to the disadvantaged, while having in place a fair and equal opportunity for all. That's the reason, our Constitution has put in place the concept of reservation and subsidy for the disadvantaged.

India has signed DTAA with many foreign countries. The Shipping Lines who are registered and paying taxes in those member countries are not required to pay taxes in India. It works both ways. However, in order to avail this facility in India, the foreign Shipping Line, needs to submit evidence to our Tax authorities and obtain a DIT license every year. However, our Tax Department insists that only those incomes arising out of carrying containers in the company's own vessels or on any listed vessel as per the Common Pool Agreement shall be exempted. Any direct slot buying from another carrier shall disqualify the appellant. However, in practice, the big shipping lines load majority of their containers outside their own vessels and Pool vessels. Majority of the carriers into India are Common carriers and even stand-alone operators, who sell their space to all major carriers. However, as the large carriers have some sorts of Pool Agreements, they submit all such evidences to get their exemption easily. They are big fish. They pay their way through to bring such an unreasonable interpretation of the tax law. The smaller and not-so-big ones, especially the Indian players with multi-country operations are shoved into the tax net. The startups,&  the smaller carriers, whose size and scale is not enough to get into such Pool Arrangements, are denied any DIT license. And all of the Indian-origin carriers are small and fit into the latter category. They are small fish. They have to pay taxes in both the countries. If that is enough, they have to deduct a TDS of 20% on all their remittances abroad. The only alternative, is to duck this Draconian Law or perish.

So big fish eats small fish or Matsy Nyaya. Our own home grown industries, who are trying to compete with the big fish in bringing cost and efficiency into carriage of goods to and from the shores of India are meted death blows by our Tax department, while the super big Carriers have a free license to do business in India and loot away without any any native competition. Such unfair and anti-domestic policies need to be urgently reexamined and replaced. They need to be replaced with policies, that encourage smaller and medium players of Indian origin and especially the startups. Or rather be given an advantage over the big fish - as that is fair and true justice.
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Brgds

Capt Rath (Skype Gtalk MSN :  psrath)

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Article - 108 Week 34 | To Be Waylaid By Hazira

Article - 108 Week 34 |  

To Be Waylaid By Hazira

The port users of Nhava Sheva have been on the receiving end, for far too long. The private Terminals have proved to be as unreliable and inefficient as the ports run by our government. The future has lost its sheen in Nhava Sheva. PAP, Unions, TAMP,  JNPT, DGS, MMD, Ministry, Private Greed, mis-management, and the unique rent extracting geographical location have all taken their pound of flesh from the helplessly reticent port users. Huge land acquisitions in the name of SEZ have pushed the land prices to mind-numbing heights in the vicinity of Nhava Sheva. Such prohibitive land prices have almost rendered it impossible for productive manufacturing Units to set shop in the vicinity. All we are left with, is a demanding, hostile, and non-productive labour force, an expensive & inefficient port, a handful of industries with sagging bottom lines (wanting to sell their land at a high price and move else where), and a gate to the consumption of nearly twenty million innocent mouths. A typical "Kolkattan Syndrome".

The new Terminal in Hazira will be a game changer. It's proximity to Mumbai will offer a salvation from the excesses of Nhava Sheva. It tacitly promises all the basics of a well functioning container terminal - those basics unattainable in Nhava Sheva. Being a spirited private enterprise, supported by the State government, this will give Nhava Sheva a run for its money. With better roads in place and its proximity of 250 Kms from Mumbai, even the importers and exporters in the vicinity of Mumbai would head towards Hazira. Living in the air of Mumbai, we all love Nhava Sheva. But our sentiments can take us only that much. Nhava Sheva will be our second preference. ICD movements would be similarly preferred from Hazira. It's a wakeup call for Nhava Sheva to pull up its socks or languish in its self-indulgent hubris with slow and sure decay - like the "Kolkattan way".

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Brgds

Capt Rath (Skype Gtalk MSN :  psrath)

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Article - 107 Week 33 | Between Men & Officers

Article - 107 Week 33 |  

Between Men & Officers

It is unsettling to watch Army Officers resist the notion of an army man being promoted to the ranks of an Officer, despite winning a medal in the Olympics. I do not contend that a sports medal is indicative of all the qualifying attributes of an Officer. However, perseverance, belief, extremely high dedication, discipline, high fitness levels, and above all a dogged determination are the basic qualities to achieve such excellence in sports. Are these qualities not the fundamentals of an Officer in the Army? If so, then why not give him a fair chance with an open mind? 

Is this resistance due to the facts that this soldier is not educated in the English speaking schools? Is this because of his rustic upbringing? The answer is yes. We kill merit so that we stay privileged. Education does not mean speaking Queen's English or displaying perfectly European etiquettes and mannerisms. Education means the ability to practice the higher values of human life. Culture, society, and schools are meant to do that. We know that the schools do a bad job of it. They teach us literacy, an analytic mind, specific skills and a whole load of never-to-be-used information to be packed into most of the useful working area of our frontal lobes. In the case of this man, he is surely loaded with all the qualities of pure education and may be deficient in English School education. Therefore, he is pushed back from joining the ranks of the privileged elites. 

This menace is every where -  in our government offices, in out Ports, in our Terminals, in our Offices, and in our factories. A clark in a government office could be smarter and much more conscientious than a mediocre IAS officer. But this smart clerk would in 98% of the cases retire as a section officer at best. And this mediocre officer would in 98% of the cases be elevated to a significant position, to impact the destiny of the nation in a significant way. A smart worker in the our Terminal would retire as a belligerent Unionist at his best - never having a chance in his life time to become an Operation Manager. A mediocre Operation Manager  will be getting many chances to manage or mismanage important processes in Organizations. Such repression of true talents and such discriminations based on School education and English speaking or writing abilities gives rise to social angst and inefficient organizations. 

All organizations, need to seek true education in place of pseudo-education in making their promotion decisions. English language can be very easily taught later. Even a smart person can easily  teach himself, if he knows that he would need this to carry on his work in future. Just to see this in real life, you can watch the way the vendors in Colaba road-sides have learnt to speak many foreign languages! Or observe the arithmetical excellence of the illiterate fisher women who can do multiplications and divisions in a flash. Time has come for all of us to break these walls of discriminations and respect merit & true education.

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Brgds

Capt Rath (Skype Gtalk MSN :  psrath)

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Article - 106 Week 32 | Am An Extraordinary Worker

Article - 106 Week 32

Am An Extraordinary Worker

I am a worker in the Port Trust. I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. My father was a worker in the Port too. Let me explain my duties & rights. Frankly speaking, I have no duty in my profession. Yes, I have so many rights that even my wrongs are morally right. I come to the Port to allow work to go on. I do the nation a big favour by my presence, albeit a few hours late most of the time. You need to understand that I am a busy businessman as well. I have 2 dumpers and a trailer to manage as well. I loaf around my friends burping some choicest abuses at the people and administration around, while making sure that the temporary workers do not work fast. I make sure that they move slowly, start at least one hour late, stop work at least one hour before the shift ends, and also stretch their lunch and coffee breaks to infinity unless, we are compensated with speed money. We permanent ones, have the lions share in all that we extract from the employers by twisting their arms to the point of breaking them. 

Sometimes I wonder why the employers and particularly the officers in the Administration are so timid. They are even afraid to talk to me straight. They are afraid of our solidarity and political backing. They know that, one wrong word from their mouth could paralyze the entire port. We have all the power. They have none. Our Union is strong. We can break any ones bones who dares to challenge. Our Union is affiliated to many powerful Unions in the Country. Our Union Leaders are also very strong politically. Some of them are MLAs, MPs, and even Ministers. Some of them have direct links with the Naxals, capable of unthinkable violence & cruelty. 

My normal wages are as high as the Officer in the Port Trust. Plus, I make speed money and bonuses almost every day. Honestly speaking, I am a rich man. And I do not like these poor people in my area. It's such an eye-sore. Not only are they poor, they are lazy, dim-witted, and dirty. They are doing such low-standard work, like pulling old rickshaws, digging the ground to build roads, carrying large burdens on their backs, working on the construction sites, selling vegetables, or even begging in the hot sun. The are half naked with tattered clothes, sweaty, smelly, stunted, and famished. Their bellies are not even one tenth of my belly. On top of all that, they are always begging for work. May be they are those dirty migrant ones from other states!  And not civilized enough to enter the Port premises. The Government should drive them away from here. Or at least educate them. The Government is no good these days.

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Brgds

Capt Rath (Skype Gtalk MSN :  psrath)

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Article - 105 Week 31 It’s All About Fairer Laws

Article - 105 Week 31 

It's All About Fairer Laws

All our ports & terminals are susceptible to periodic convulsive paralysis. Conflicts between management and the labour force is the most common cause. When there is a collision, we look and debate vociferously on who was right and who was wrong. If you follow the unfortunate incidence in Maruti Factory in Manesar, you would see an extreme example. Many condemn the gruesome act while defending the workers on their reasonable demands for higher pay.  In any case the damage is done irreparably. The nation's industrial culture is sullied. And we would see many such similar confrontations, not only in factories across India, but also in our Terminals, Ports, & CFSs. The intensities & gruesomeness may vary , but such events would haunt us for a long long time. 

All these social outbursts stem from one bad law of our land. The Labour Law! We can hire  -  but can not fire, even when we go into losses or even wind down. What an unfair tragedy ! A dying man is not permitted die in peace, even though he was generating many jobs! The employer is always circumspect, because he himself does not know what would happen tomorrow. The market could come down or his factory may be declared unlawful by any funny law. The best insurance for him is to take as many temporary workers as he possibly can and maintain a minimum number of permanent workers, by cutting through the cumbersome maize of red-tapes. That's what happened in Manesar. And that's what happens in a more twisted way in our ports & terminals.

Once you manage to slip in as a permanent worker in a Port, your life & your future generations' life is safe and secure. Union is your impenetrable shield. Your productivity and discipline don't matter. Your wages are constantly reconstructed to beat the wages outside. Company's high profits during market upticks makes you angry & violent for more wages and the Company's losses during low periods makes you scorn and deride the management. You stop working. The Company hires temporary workers to compensate. You become angry both at the Company and the poorer temporary workers. The temporary worker takes one third your salary and produces three times more than you. This may make you angrier - but makes the temporary poorer worker hate you.  He aspires to be in your shoes one day. To have a secure, pampered, indisciplined, lazy, and most of all an unaccountable life style with loads of assured money. Then, he forms his own Union. He demands wages parity. The Company realizes that without him, works would slow down to a stop, because you are highly unproductive and at times unpredictably destructive. If the Company gives parity and permanence, the temporary worker becomes like you - angry,  vocal, violent, and lazy. There rises a distinct wall of animosity between the management and both the Unions. Enemy's enemy becomes a friend. Both the Unions join hands to punish the common enemy : The job-creator. The drama unfolds. Those in the Unions enjoy a more & more lavish life with lesser and lesser accountability. Those outside the Unions, the common poor Indians, struggle for a job for a pittance and live a life of poverty and want. The Companies stagnate and mostly wind down over a period of time or live on the dole-outs from the tax payers' money, just to pay the Union members. Investors and entrepreneurs run away. The Party gets deserted soon. All become losers - poorer and frustrated in a nation of plenty.

All this because of an unnatural Law . The Law that decrees you to hire but not fire. Until this unnatural Law is revoked, our Terminals & Ports shall be on a slow march to misery and redundancy.

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Brgds

Capt Rath

Article - 104 Week 30 Policing On Port Gates

 Article - 104 Week 30   

Policing On Port Gates

We have learnt to govern ourselves in our own ways. Under tremendous resistance or absence of governance we have found our survival tricks. Think of the times when traffic cops or red lights disappear on busy roads. It becomes chaotic. Traffic stops. Horns blare away in frustration. It's a huge crowd desperately trying to think and act in synchronicity. A smart volunteer comes forward to help and guide. It's a slow and excruciatingly inefficient traffic management system though. 

What do you see at the Gates of JNPT? As an outsider you would see a long and struggling queue of container trailers for miles and miles. At the Gate it is utter chaos. Both import and export trailers locking their horns at the Gate, paralyzing entry and exit for hours. No policing. Just a matter of self governing by a crowd of frustrated and tired trailer pilots. Some try to bully their way through and block any hope of an immediate solution to the ballooning problem. Bullying comes naturally to those brandishing there descent from the PAP villages. The CISF guys are unperturbed and at times amused by this world of turmoil outside their comfortable cabins. And also a sense of beholding from a more authoritative and powerful pedestal at the hapless inferior sea of sub-humanity. All that counts are those multi-colored Form-13s, 11s, and so on, being reverently presented from the sheepish faces with broad smiles on, despite the trauma of the struggle to get past the madness. The Terminal management is a distant and apathetic observer of this drama from the confines of those closed and comfortable administration offices. It is non of their concern to fix these mini-mutinies at their gates. They would hear out the problems with utmost condescension and ask you to take a hike if you do not like the process. 

We need liberalization here. We want the Terminal managers to come to the site of the problems. Guide and manage the flow. Hear the cacophony of desperation. See the beads of perspiration on those contorted faces struggling at the Gates. See the inefficacy of the outdated colored Forms creating  this mass of human suffering. See the sadistic brutality on the faces of those in charge of their Gates. And all this without asking for speed money to set things right. And we would gladly call this Liberalization - Not those high sounding empty Policies written in incomprehensibly complex rule books by a bunch of crooked lawyers to favour a certain entity at the cost of fooling the majority.

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Brgds

Capt Rath

Article - 103 Week 29 Rays Of Hope From God’s Own Country

Article - 103  Week 29  

Rays Of  Hope From God's Own Country

Vallarpadam has arrived finally. After tons of money spent, loads of files passed, endless amount of non-sensical discussions and chatters Vallarpadam got its Cabotage waiver in principle. You remember that funny rule called Cabotage, where you do not allow foreign ships to carry any thing  (not even a thakahua empty metal dabba) from one port to another in our country. Like, when you come to the International Airport in Mumbai after many chakars in the air, you are coerced & arm-twisted in to those rickety & smelly kali-pili (black & yellow) taxis to take you home or to your  Hotel. And they would charge you a bomb after shaking all your loose bones in their sockets. Meru and other fleet taxis are not allowed because they are more efficient, comfortable, and charge you less. The situation above is an exact equivalent of our Cabotage rule.

Our Indian ships are like those kali-pili  taxis. If you ask them - why they charge you so much for the shoddy services in those rust-buckets, they will point at Ports, Customs, Taxes and so on; exactly like the kali-pili  driver tells you about the high fuel cost, tolls, and the harassing cops etc. After all, we are Aam-Admi. We are supposed only to pay quietly. The State Government of Kerala finally understood and poked the Centre to have this funny rule waived only for Vallarpadam. We as users are happy  that it may happen after all. What happens next is some thing to be seen. We have gone past the stage of celebrating. The guys in the Government know how to mess up good things at the right time. I heard that the CISF did not allow the Customs guys to enter the Terminal. I was very happy to know that there is at least some one with the gumption to fix these unruly and corrupt thugs. Alas! The Terminal came to an unresisting halt. Without the permission of those elite &  powerful thugs, who sit at the border to loot - just like those Talibans at Khyber Pass, nothing moves. A separate entry for them had to be made.

Let's all hope that Vallarpadam happens. If the State Government is wise enough to keep a check on  our Customs' excesses, high port tariffs, high handling costs, idiotic Unions, and other Central inventions to sabotage a good thing as is its wont. We would see a handful of rays of hope shining on our industry, from our God's own country.

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Brgds

Capt Rath

Article - 102 Week 28 Monsters Of Indian Shipping

Article - 102  Week 28 

Monsters Of Indian Shipping

We loved monster stories as kids. We love monster movies as adults. It's a world away from our real existence. We are safe from the menacing aliens or giant sized alligators jumping at us in 3D in the comforts of movie halls. If there was a more advanced life form looking at us remotely, he would be laughing his guts out at the irony. The irony that we humans while willingly giving in to the deadly monsters gnawing at our body, mind, and soul - make it an entertainment theme from the imagined ones. 

A monster can safely be defined as an entity that steals our life and its resources. Let's look at the institutions empowered by the Government in our industry. The Port Authorities, the Customs, the Police, & so on. What do these entities do?  The Port Authority is a mechanism for rent extraction. If you need to move your goods through them, you have no option but to cough a huge price. If there is a small violation of its rules, they would seize your goods and ask for storage and other silly costs that would make you a pauper in the street. Any vehicle or vessel that comes into the Port will be levied sky high. The Port Authorities have employed a few private companies to do a better job of extraction while belting out shoddier services. Exactly like the big monster who would employ smaller devils to perpetrate his cruelty & exploitation on the people. Lets look at the Customs. Their job is to collect tax as written in the Rule Book. They do that with a good amount of ineptitude. But what they do with real efficiency is seizing your goods with the slightest of excuses. Then you are doomed. They would extract from you depending upon the entire bloated damage that could possibly enact and their ingenuity in finding lapses and magnifying them to push you on to a slow and painful financial and mental train to hell. Bigger they magnify and longer they can procrastinate, the more they can extract. In such situations other Authorities like the Port, the Police, the CONCOR, the Railways, Plant Quarantine or even the Fire Department, would happily join the orgy to nibble away the leftovers. In most cases the amounts they extract is a wee bit smaller than the complete loss. You soil your soul, mind, and dignity to give precedence to cold logic. You get back a small part of what was originally yours. And come out poorer, dejected, bruised, and broken. The farmers commit suicide and you lick your wounds. It's survival game in this wilderness of monsters. The monsters we live with are far more ubiquitous, threatening and life sucking than the ones we would read in comics or watch in movie halls. And the ironic part is, we do not have the nerves to make movies on these real monsters gnawing at us constantly, from many such places like the Passport Office, the Municipality, the Tax office, the DG Shipping, the MMD, the Shipping Master, and so on! Is this because we ourselves would turn ourselves into such dastardly monsters, if we are put in those positions of discretion?

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Brgds

Capt Rath