Government has announced new tariff guidelines for private operators at major Indian portsNew Delhi: Government has announced new tariff guidelines for public private partnership projects (PPP) in major ports, aiming to make them more competitive and market-friendly. Under the new regime, private concessionaires at major ports will be able to charge tariff as per market conditions.According to official sources, the new tariff guidelines will replace the earlier tariff authority for major ports (TAMP).The fresh guidelines are part of the new Major Port Authority Act 2021, which came into effect last month on November 3. Currently, major ports’ PPP concessionaires handle around 50 per cent of the total traffic handled by all the major ports in India.”The guidelines allow the concessionaires at major ports to set tariffs as per market dynamics,” an official statement issued by the shipping ministry said.It noted that the biggest benefit of transition to market linked tariff is that a level playing field will be provided to the PPP concessionaires at major ports to compete with private ports.Prior to the introduction of the new tariff guidelines, PPP concessionaires were constrained to operate under TAMP guidelines, whereas private operators and concessionaires at non-major ports had the freedom to charge tariff as per market conditions.Sources said that these new guidelines will be applicable for future PPP projects, including projects which are currently under the bidding stage.Shipping minister Sarbananda Sonowal said that the government mandated concessions in tariff for trans-shipment and coastal shipping shall continue to apply to all PPP future concessionaires.