Trade for more mother vessels at Chennai Port

Chennai: The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) wants more mother vessels to call at the Chennai port. Currently most ships from Europe are routed through Colombo. This increases transaction costs for exporters and delays shipments. 'We will look at reducing transaction costs and later focus on improving infrastructure at ports,' said Mr V. Krishnamurthy, Chairman, National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council.

At a meeting organised by the FIEO, representatives from the leather industry asked the Government to provide land for leather parks. 'With the cost of labour going up in China, most companies are re-locating to India,' said Mr M. Rafeeque Ahmed, Chairman, FICCI, Tamil Nadu State Council.

The need for a human resource development mission to train labourers in basic skills was discussed at the meet. The NMCC representatives said they would create a mechanism for coordination between the State Governments and ministries to fund skill development centres.

As part of curriculum improvement, Indian Technical Institutes will have new courses such as lean manufacturing and inventory control besides information communication technologies catering to small and medium enterprises.