The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCC&I) organized the sixth edition of its annual Shipping Conclave with the overwhelming participation of senior representatives from the Government, Policymakers, Industry leaders, Researchers, etc. The focus of this year’s Conclave was on “Changing Scenario of Indian Ports”.

The objective was to understand the present status of the infrastructure facilities in major and private ports in the country and to draw up an Action Plan on further requirements, highlight deficiencies and chart the way ahead for improvements like last mile road and rail connectivity for ensuring free flow of cargo in and out of ports.

Capt S B Mazumder, Chairperson, Shipping Committee, BCC&I welcomed the inaugural speakers on the dais – Mr Indrajit Sen, President Designate, BCC&I (who had delivered the welcome speech at the Inaugural Session), His Excellency Shri Tathagata Roy, Governor of Tripura and Shri Vinit Kumar, IRSEE, Chairman, Kolkata Port Trust, Ministry of Shipping, Government of India.

The other key speakers were Shri S Balaji Arunkumar, IRTS, Deputy Chairman, Kolkata Port Trust, Ministry of Shipping, Government of India; Capt Farhat Imam ,Chief Operating Officer, Resolve Marine Group, Florida, USA; Mr Anoop Kumar Agrawal , Managing Director, Indian Port Rail Corporation Limited (IPRCL); Dr Unnikrishnan Nair, Chief Manager Traffic, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT); Mr Tamal Roy, President - Business Development and Investments, J M Baxi Group(the Session Chairperson of Technical Session I); Mr B B Panigrahi, Head – Projects, Paradip Port Trust (PPT), Paradip; Ms Vinita Venkatesh, Director, Krishnapatnam Port Container Terminal Private Limited; Mr K K Krishnadas, President & COO, ICT&IPL (A J M Baxi Group Company); Capt Sunil Thapar, Chief Executive Officer, M/s All Cargo Logistics Ltd; Capt J S Gill, Managing Director, Seaconsortium India Pvt Ltd, Mumbai and Mr Dibyendu Bose, Group Director (Investments & New Ventures), Tata Steel Limited (the Session Chairperson of Technical Session II).

The Conclave brought together senior Government officials, port users, trade representatives, industry representatives, policy makers, researchers and academicians. Altogether the total number of delegates present at the Conclave was in excess of 150. The Conclave was an eye-opener for those in the EXIM trade, the ship owners/charterers, the shipping lines/agents, the CHAs, the port users, the freight forwarders, the logistics providers, etc as they had a clear understanding of the present & future infrastructure of Indian ports comprising of the Major Ports and the private ports. Overall the Conclave provided the way forward on developments and investments in the Port Sector, which is expected to leadto an increase in the cargo handling capacity which in turn would reduce logisticscosts for the Exim Trade.