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Kochi hits the main shipping lane with new box terminal


Friday, 11 February 2011 03:16

The dawn of a new era in the history of Kochi will begin with the inauguration of the Vallarpadam International Container Transhipment Terminal by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today, reported The Hindu.


The sophisticated facility is expected to transform both Kerala and the Kochi port as the international logistic hub in India.
The US$700 million ICTT, together with the ancillary projects, is expected to accelerate economic development of Kerala as well as the whole country.


The terminal is the largest of its kind and first in the country to operate in an SEZ. It is intended to make Kochi a key destination in the shipping world, reducing India's dependence on foreign ports to handle transhipment cargo. Once fully developed, the Vallarpadam terminal will be the largest in India.


N. Ramachandran, chairman, Cochin Port Trust, says that Kochi is an ideal location for the development of an ICTT due to its proximity to trunk sea-trade routes, from Europe and West Asia to the Far East and Australia, and well-established network of railway and highway connections across the country. The port also has a large green-field area for future development.


Considering these advantages, Cochin Port Trust had mooted a proposal in the early 1990s for establishment of an ICTT. Taking into account the potential, the Government of India took a decision to develop Cochin Port as a container transhipment port.


Ramachandran pointed out that the container traffic in India is
growing at a fast pace. To ensure economies of scale, the international trend is to develop hub ports for handling mainline container vessels, and connect them to nearby smaller ports through feeder services. Owing to the lack of adequate facilities in any of the Indian ports, much of the Indian container traffic is transhipped through foreign transhipment terminals such as Colombo, Salalah, Dubai and Singapore.


This is resulting in additional costs and time delays. The Vallarpadam terminal is expected to provide facilities for handling mother ships and, thereby, obviate the need for transhipment of Indian containers through other countries.


This is expected to result in a cost saving of around $300 a box and time saving of 7-10 days, resulting in huge benefits to the Exim trade.


Ramachandran pointed out that with reduced transportation costs, India's produce will become more competitive in the international market and, consequently, foreign trade volume will increase.


Economic utilisation of the cargo-carrying capacity of the Railways and the National Highways will also be possible as a substantial volume of containers will be transported between the hinterland and the port.


With its strategic location on the southwest coast of the country and at the crossroads of the East-West ocean trade, Kochi is a natural gateway to the vast industrial and agricultural produce markets of south-west India. The hinterland of the port includes the whole of Kerala and parts of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.


A study on the traffic flow in the hinterland of the port indicates that about 97 per cent of the traffic volume is accounted for by Kerala. The hinterland has further spread to different areas with the growth of containerisation and establishment of Inland Container Depots (ICDs) at different load centres.


Kochi, with its proximity to the international sea route between Europe and the Far East and Australia, can attract a large number of container lines offering immense sailing opportunities.


According to Ramachandran, the terminal opens up immense potential for allied industries such as container freight stations, ICDs , port-based SEZ, movement of cargo through inland waterways, logistics and warehousing centres, and so on.


Being labour intensive industries, these are expected to generate substantial employment opportunities in Kerala.
The Willingdon Island, where the present port facilities are located, is fully developed and, accordingly, the future development of the port facilities has been planned on the port's land at Vallarpadam and Puthuvypeen Islands.


The establishment of highway and rail connectivity to these port areas together with deep channels for the navigation of large-size vessels under the ICTT project will throw up opportunities for the fructification of various port development schemes such as the LNG terminal, international bunkering terminal, international cruise terminal, and so on.


Cochin is an all-weather Port most strategically located on the East-West trade route, only 11 nautical miles away from direct sea route to Australia and the Far East from Europe. No other Indian port enjoys this closeness to the maritime highway.


Source: CargonewsAsia.