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| MSC India holds successful trade meet in Ahmedabad | 11/03/2011 |
| Gujarat cargo for Gujarat ports’ was the underlying theme of a hugely successful trade meet organised recently by MSC India in Ahmedabad. The event received overwhelming response and saw participation from all stakeholders in the shipping fraternity - exporters, importers, forwarders, CHAs and the port terminals of Mundra and Pipavav. Ms Geeta Thakkar, Branch Manager, MSC Ahmedabad, extended a warm welcome to the guests.Capt. Deepak Tewari, CEO of MSC India, also thanked the guests for coming and then outlined the theme ‘Gujarat Cargo for Gujarat Ports’. He said that this must be viewed especially in light of the challenges being currently faced at Nhava Sheva. The fourth container terminal is unlikely to be operational at Nhava Sheva before 2015 and the existing three terminals are already operating far above their designed capacity. Therefore, the logical gateway for cargo from Gujarat should be the Gujarat ports, he said. Capt. Tewari underlined MSC's commitment to the Gujarat trade and pointed out that MSC was the first carrier to start calling Mundra way back in 2003. Ever since, MSC has significantly increased and strengthened its services at Gujarat ports. It is the only line to call at the two ports of Mundra and Pipavav in the state. Mr Mukesh Oza, President of the Samsara Group, which represents MSC in Vadodara, Pipavav, Veraval, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Surat and Jamnagar in Gujarat, in his address, highlighted that MSC had the largest network of ten offices in the state to cater to the huge potential the state of Gujarat has to offer. Mr Oza also announced the formation of the Association of Shipping Interests in Gujarat (ASIG), to act as a facilitator between all stakeholders serving the Gujarat trade. Mr Indrajit Sengupta, Vice-President of MSC India, made a presentation on the line’s services. He pointed out that MSC now offered three departures a week to the Mediterranean and North West Continent with direct calls at 11 ports.The presentation also included the theme ‘Gujarat ports - A preferred gateway’, which clearly showed that for cargo originating from the inland container depots of Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Ankleshwar, the ports of Pipavav and Mundra were the logical gateways over Nhava Sheva after factoring the cost, distance, time and, most importantly, operational efficiency. Presentations were also made by Capt. Sandeep Mehta of Mundra Port and Mr Prakash Tulsiani of APM Terminals Pipavav. They informed the trade of the recent developments, and upgradation of infrastructure and services at their facilities |
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