Optimization of Vessel Turnaround Time at a Seaport with a Special Reference to New Mangalore Port Trust

Abstract

Turnaround time of a vessel in a seaport exhibits the capability and ability of a port in providing efficient and effective services. Ship turnaround time is one of the most significant Port performance indicator. This is the total time, spent by the vessel in port, during a given call. It is the sum of waiting time, berthing time, service time (i.e., ship’s time at berth) and sailing delay. Indian ports play a crucial role in trade and economy, as 95% of merchandise trade is handled by ports. However, port turnaround time remains a key problem. It is significantly slower when compared to ports in other developing countries, being several times higher than for ports in China, Singapore and Malaysia. It is estimated that about 40% of ships time is spent in ports. The main contributing factors in high turnaround time of a vessel in a sea port are the port congestion, loading/unloading speed, method of cargo handling, general operational delays, strikes, ship catastrophe, pilotage and mooring time and delay due to weather. To reduce the turnaround time of a vessel in a seaport, the port processes are to be streamlined and capacity augmented. This research is aimed at identifying the factors that are responsible for turnaround time of vessels at New Mangalore Port. As the present day vessels are of very large size to take advantage the economy of scale requires huge investment. The return on investment depends on the earning of vessel during her entire life. The voyage time of a vessel is the only earning period of the vessel, whereas the time spent in seaports is expenditure for the ship owners. Therefore every ship owners expect a very low turnaround time to get maximum benefits. The turnaround time is a function of port operations and port facilities. Currently, it is not possible to determine the significant factor(s) that influence port performance, in terms of turnaround time. The primary data of vessel arrival/departure in New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) recorded at Vessel Traffic Management System (VTMS) are used for the present study. This study revealed that more than 120 factors affect the turnaround time of the vessel in a seaport. The factors attributable to high turnaround time at NMPT are mainly due to the precommencement and post-commencement documentation/custom formalities and the total time lost during loading unloading process. Non-availability of berths in case of liquid bulk cargo and non-availability of equipment’s and lack of mechanization inii the dry bulk cargo handling also contributes to the increased turnaround time of vessels. The weightage of these factors in contributing high to turnaround time are analysed through the developed optimisation tool and total time consumed by the top 20 critical factors are calculated month on month basis. The sensitivity analysis shows that in the year 2018-2019 on an average of 1350 hours per month is lost which is around 17.50% of the total monthly turnaround time of the all vessels calling on to the port during the year in consideration. The major constrains which contribute to this increased turnaround time are the total time lost during loading and unloading operations, documentation procedures, custom clearance, survey of the cargo and the time lost due to non-port account. The sampling of cargo and lab test for quality assurance before loading and unloading the cargo by the concerned authority also contributes to the delay in turnaround time of the vessel. Weather constraints and some of the port constraints like shifting of vessel from one berth to the other for draft requirements, idle time at berth are some of the factors which also contribute to the increased vessel turnaround time in NMPT. Thus, the outputs of the optimization tool will able to help the port management to verify the problems in an identified area on a real time basis and to come out with better solutions in providing services and improving the port activities, to ensure lower vessel turnaround time and increased port productivity and efficiency. It is possible to tackle all the delay causing factors by the port management in providing efficient and effective services and increased port productivity, with the aim to achieve optimum port performance. The model can also be useful in generating various Management Information System (MIS) outputs and Port Performance Indicators (PPI) with respect to the category of cargo handled, Berth wise, on daily/monthly/yearly basis.