Rohan to speak on Port Logistics: The bedrock of connectivity in India

Shippers’ Academy Colombo CEO Rohan Masakorala has been invited by Observer Research Foundation (ORF), Kolkata for a consultative group gathering on India’s Maritime Connectivity: Importance of the Bay of Bengal on 15-16 May.

Explaining the concept note Masakorala said that this is the fourth occasion that he is travelling to India to discuss logistics related forums this year, where the Modi government has taken very progressive steps to advance in the maritime and logistics sector. He commented that India’s development in the sector will certainly benefit Sri Lanka as volume growth in India will have a natural increase for our ports and will have a multiplier effect benefit if our ports are efficient and delivers as expected by shipping lines. Also, the East coast of India is set to accelerate development and that will have an opportunity for us to convert Trincomalee to be a major distribution point for the Bay of Bengal region.

The ORF concept note stresses that “The Bay of Bengal is increasingly gaining salience as part of a strategic maritime space and is witness to the play of geo-political interests of the many actors that are part of it. While the rise of Asia has been a topic of much deliberation over the past few decades, it is now that the presence of this rise is felt stronger than ever not only within the region but also worldwide. It is in response to these geo-political forces that multilateral approaches such as the Asia Pivot led by the US, the One Belt and One Road Project put forward by China and the Sagarmala project envisioned by India are coming about.

Maritime trade and maritime connectivity have been one of the oldest forms of cross-cultural and cross-civilisational interaction. It is also true for the Bay. Covering more than 2,173,000 square kilometres the Bay is situated between vital sea routes and stretches from Sri Lanka up to the coast of Eastern India, curving under Bangladesh and Myanmar and heading South along Thailand and Malaysia until it reaches the Northern coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. The waterways have been used as primary medium of trade and have provided the impetus for the growth of maritime enterprises for densely populated littoral countries.

How to ensure reliable, uninterrupted and safe movement of people, goods, energy and resource supplies throughout the Indian Ocean, has become a major concern for India. Given that oceans have a transnational character, the workshop intends to focus on the dynamics of India’s maritime connectivity in the Bay of Bengal.  The workshop will attempt an appraisal of the geo-political, geo-strategic and geo-economic dimensions of the connectivity linkages between India and the Bay adjacent countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka along with India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands with respect to trade, population flow and fiscal connectivity. Exchange of information, capacity building and the provision of technical assistance amongst the Bay adjacent states are important elements for cooperation in enhancing the political will to address the challenges of maritime safety and security.”

The consultative workshop will be divided into three business sessions: 

Port Logistics: The Bedrock of Connectivity:

Linking India’s North East with the Bay: Importance of Inland Waterways:

The Way Forward: Strategic Convergences and Divergences

Masakorala said that ORF has invited him to talk about maritime linkages in port and fiscal connectivity, this session will focus on various facets of supplies and logistical services which determine the volume and frequency of traffic and discuss some pressing issues such as,

To what extent does the existing infrastructure serve the purposes of connectivity in the Bay of Bengal? 

What are the key difficulties in existing infrastructure and how can they be addressed? 

What are the key areas of improvement for establishing better connectivity in the Bay? To what extent is it feasible to develop Port Blair as a free port?