Posted on April 18, 2016
The high cost of dredging—deepening and maintaining port channels—is often cited as the main reason why ship calling costs, or so-called vessel-related charges, are high at Indian ports, compared with other harbours in Asia.
This is because dredging costs are recovered from ships docking at the ports to unload and load cargo.
That makes it difficult for many Indian ports to offer competitive rates to shipowners who are constantly looking for ports with lower rates to include in their route network in a bid to cut operating costs at a time when the freight rates have fallen drastically.
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