Theme: Ease Of Doing Business At Ports(By Invitation only)
Day One : 28th Jan, 2016 - 4.30pm to 6.30pm
Recognizing a burgeoning need for top-level maritime industry executives to meet and network with their peers and to discuss their business challenges,
successes and opportunities, the CEO Roundtable was formed in January 2015 by Maritime Gateway. The first roundtable has proven to be an invaluable resource for CEOs and top-level decision-makers dealing with business, operational and policy level issues and opportunities. Last year 40+ CEOs and leaders representing companies of diverse size and industry participated.
The CEO Roundtable meets ahead of ECMBS main conference. The dynamic, free-flowing sessions are approximately two hours, and are expertly facilitated to foster interaction and active participation from the attendees.
Why Attend?
- Networking with others at your level
- Exchanging new and innovative management ideas, solutions and strategies in a confidential setting
- Gaining the collective wisdom and multiple perspectives on business and operational issues through open and unbiased discussions
- Learning how to avoid mistakes, pitfalls and roadblocks with their business
- Gaining valuable information, insight and knowledge from other experienced CEOs
Time to think of Ease of Doing Business (EDB) at Ports
The general perception is that Ease of Doing Business (EDB) is limited to government domain. Where as Ports both in government and private sector act like authorities. Thousands of stakeholders are connected to ports for doing their businesses.
Ports have elaborate procedures driven by Customs, Security or some government agency driven with several documentation work. There is a definite need to streamline these procedures and make conducting business an easy process.
Many a time Port user is clueless as to whom to approach and ask basic information like how to enter port. The process needs to be so simple and transparent like how we enter airport. Similarly if user has some cargo to be cleared, he/she should know the procedure beforehand as to whom to contact, what data is required, where can he submit and how to obtain permissions etc.,
User should be able to enter the port without any hassles, complete his business and leave.
Why can’t we have green channels for cargo movement at ports, so that all the procedures and processes are simplified, approvals are obtained online and cargo moves quickly.
Why is ease of doing business more important today?
There is intense competition among countries at the global level for business. In this environment
customer looks at where he can get cheaper and how quickly he can get. So any cumbersome process into and out of the port will add to the cost and time, which makes the product uncompetitive in the global market.
Why e-commerce is booming today? Because they could cut several layers of operations, time delays and ultimately costs.
Ease of doing business should be a constant parameter to judge the port’s efficiency. Not only just loading and unloading operations are volumes handled - total business scenario has to be measured. Truck turn around time, the process of entering the port, receiving and discharging of cargo, use of technology for these operations - every process relating to the customer needs is to be redefined and regularly measured.
Where do we stand today?
Both in public and private sector ports, layers and layers of permissions and documentations are required. All the authorities should work at reducing these cumbersome procedures. There are so many government agencies at the ports asking for diverse documents. These should be made uniform and processes should be simplified, so that each entity has different set of procedures.
When government is seriously talking about ease of doing business, why can’t ports and agencies that work in port think about the same? Ease of doing business should also review how relevant are the security procedures in today’s scenario.
Singapore does very well in simplifying port procedures and that is the reason Singapore Ports have grown big.
It is time for ports to start think customer centric.
User Survey on EDB @ Ports
During the last five weeks Maritime Gateway reached out to 300 port users who are doing business with east coast ports and sought their perspective and experience of ease of doing business through a simple questionnaire. The analysis of the survey will be presented for discussion at the CEO Roundtable on 28th January 2016.
