While many senior executives continue to talk about the "voice of the customer," few demonstrate their commitment to this concept by spending time with customers. Many continue to use their intuition or `golden gut' in their attempt to provide superior customer value. Unfortunately, `senior executive intuition' is rarely attuned to the needs of their customers. While the competitive environment continues to intensify, executives have cut back on the time devoted to customers just when it should be increasing. This article discusses the need for senior executives to spend time with customers and provides examples of the benefits that this approach will provide.

Visakhapatnam Port has made substantial achievements in the last few years. The opening of a modern container terminal is like the icing on the cake. This terminal is a joint venture with the Dubai Port Trust, which has earned itself an international reputation in the maritime sector as a major player in the field. The project was set up in record time and is equipped with the most modern gadgetry. With the ratio of containerized cargo increasing every year, it is these kinds of modern terminals which could boost up India's east coast and offer alternatives to Colombo and Singapore. The best performing ports have traditionally been on the west coast, while on the eastern side, the performance has generally been below par. The technical details, layouts and growth figures have been laid out in this most interesting case study. Future potential has also been assessed in the light of the need to have faster turnaround times.

The 125-cr Visakha Container Terminal Private Limited (VCTPL) is the only private player in Andhra Pradesh to have an edge over other ports, including Mumbai, as far as the hinterland and sea connectivity is concerned.It is a joint venture of Dubai Ports World and United Liner Agencies of India. Dubai Port world shares 26% of equity participation while United Liner shares 74% equity participation. Dubai Port World is the third largest Terminal Operator in the world helping VCTPL to build the infrastructure facilities. On the other hand, United liner is one of leading shipping service providers in India and extends its technical expertise. VCTPL emerged as the successful bidder for creating infrastructure facilities to handle container movement and is managing the terminal on the basis of BOT for a period of 30 years, while the project was started in June 2003.

VCTPL was commissioned on June 26, 2005 in record time within nine months of signing the CLA with VPT. The terminal is equipped with most modern container handling equipments which include two of Rail Mounted Quay Cranes (RMQCs) for handling containers from/to the Ship, two of Rubber Tyre Gantry Cranes (RTGCs) and four of Reach Stackers for stacking/dispatching containers in the Yard. There are 16 Internal Transfer Vehicles (ITVs) for moving the containers within the terminal. For the storage of reefer containers, 132 reefer plug points backed with 1,250 KVA generator is provided. Reefer PTI, Run Test facilities are available and the reefer condition is monitored regularly by skilled technical staff.

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