Tarun Karthick
Campbell Bay, 19 July 2022
M.V Kalighat arrived at Campbell Bay Port today with general cargo and passengers. During the unloading of the cargo from the ship, the merchants noticed that many of their packages are damaged and the content of the packages are missing. The merchants reportedly confronted the Tally Clerk of the ship about the damage to their packages and the missing items. The merchants informed Nicobar Times that the Tally Clerk showed no responsibility and informed them that the packages were damaged and the items were stolen at Car Nicobar Port, by people who entered the hatch.
Nicobar Times spoke to Mr. K C Murugan, Secretary, Small Traders Association, Campbell Bay who informed that the merchants of Great Nicobar face regular losses due to missing cargo from DSS Ships and no official takes responsibility for it. He added that the merchants of Great Nicobar pay for packing charges, freight, loading and unloading charges in addition to the price of goods and even then the officials of DSS take no responsibility for ensuring the safety of their cargo.
Mr. K C Murugan further commented that the merchants are expected to sell their goods on MRP even after incurring such heavy losses due to the carelessness of DSS Officials.
General Cargo is transported to Campbell Bay primarily in DSS Vessels as private cargo vessels do not provide services regularly.
The merchants of Great Nicobar have a very thin margin on products because of the additional expenses they incur in repacking the items at Port Blair, freight charges, loading and unloading charges etc.
In most parts of South Andaman and North & Middle Andaman, the distributors of products transport their commodities to the doorstep of the merchants without any additional charges, but the same is not true for Nicobar Group.
Many merchants of Great Nicobar are of the view that container cargo transportation should be started for Nicobar Group and separate containers should be used for transporting cargo for different Islands.