Shanghai International Shipping Institute

APM Terminals-operated Gateway Terminals India (GTI) has outperformed competitor Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) by winning new service calls. However, the opening of a PSA International terminal at India's busiest container gateway threatens to take business away from both terminals at the port.

A new weekly intra-Asia service jointly operated by Cosco Shipping Lines and Wan Hai Lines, branded China-India Service VI (CI6), will make its maiden sailing from Shanghai, China on January 24 and then start making its way towards GTI, reported IHS Media.

The port rotation for CI6 is: Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Nansha, Singapore, Nhava Sheva (JNPT), Pipavav, Penang, and back to Shanghai. The service will deploy five 4,250 TEU vessels, with Cosco contributing four and Wan Hai, one.

That service addition brings GTI's total number of weekly sailings to 14. However, local trade sources told JOC.com that with PSA's entry, there could be service profile changes at JNPT in the coming months. GTI officials declined to comment on that possibility.

Another industry source told JOC.com that a nine-vessel consortium led by Hapag-Lloyd that currently uses the port-owned Jawaharlal Nehru Container Terminal (JNCT), is likely to switch to PSA's Bharat Mumbai Container Terminal upon full-fledged operations.

GTI currently accounts for 40 per cent of JNPT's total throughput, after handling 1.5 million TEU between April and December 2017, a 12.5 per cent year-on-year gain, out of 3.6 million TEU shipped through the port.

Furthermore, the private operator represented half of JNPT's overall direct port delivery handling in December, processing 23,372 TEU out of 52,013 TEU speedy discharges through the port, statistics show.

GTI is a joint venture between APM Terminals Group and domestic rail operator Container Corporation of India (Concor). The terminal has an annual handling capacity of 2.3 million TEU.