Centre to re-bid 10 private cargo-handling terminals.

The shipping ministry has rejected demands by 10 private cargo handlers operating under tariff rules framed in 2005 to migrate to a new regime that took effect in July 2013.

Applying the 2013 tariff rules to the older cargo handlers would have significantly raised their revenues, but without generating any concomitant benefit for the ports which house the cargo terminals.

Instead, the shipping ministry is preparing to rebid these terminals using the 2013 tariff norms, wherein existing operators will be given the right of first refusal to match the highest bid -if they are not the highest bidder- and take up the contract on fresh terms.

'There won't be any migration of these terminals to the new tariff regime,' a ministry spokesman said. 'These terminals will be re-tendered with terms and conditions used for bidding out new port contracts and the existing operators of each of these terminals will be given the right of first refusal to match the highest bid,' he said.

The government's chief legal adviser, though, had cleared the decks for such migration.


LIVEMINT