The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has issued the Chennai Port Trust (Licensing of stevedoring and shore handling) Regulations, 2021 in supersession of the Chennai Port Trust (Licensing of Stevedores) Regulations, 2009, vide notification dated October 4, 2021.
Key highlights of the Rules are:
- This shall be applicable to stevedoring activities on board and shore handling activities on shore undertaken by the agent, but shall not apply to such activities undertaken either by the Board or by any person with whom Public-Private Partnership agreement or Build-Operate-Transfer agreement or such other agreement has been entered into by the Board.
- A license for carrying out the stevedoring and shore handling activities may be issued to an applicant who fulfils the following criteria:
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- the applicant is a company registered under the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013) or a partnership Firm or any other legal entity;
- the applicant has employed, or submits an undertaking to employ, at least six supervisory personnel possessing minimum of two years of experience in cargo handling or stowage;
- the applicant possesses equipment and gears required for stevedoring activities and shore handling activities, as specified by the Board;
- the applicant is willing to deposit interest-free refundable security deposit of rupees five lakhs or such higher amount, as the Board may fix, from time to time, to meet any contingency.
- The person shall apply for the license by submitting an online form in the format available on the website of the Board, or in writing to the Chairman in Form-A, along with the documents specified therein and a fee of rupees fifty thousand or such higher fee, as the Board may fix, from time to time and once the license is issued it shall be valid for a period of three years from the date of issue of licence unless otherwise specified.
- The Board shall from time to time specify the performance standards to be followed by the agents for carrying out stevedoring and shore handling activities in the port and the Board may, for the purpose of encouraging compliance with the performance standards specified by it, fix incentives for the agents and specify penalty for non-performance and may publish monthly summary of performance achieved by the agents on its website.
- The tariff authority shall, on the basis of performance standards specified by the Board, fix and notify tariff separately for mechanized and manual operations of stevedoring and shore handling activities in the port and such tariff shall be the ceiling rates applicable in the port.
*Tanvi Singh, Editorial Assistant has reported this brief.
