DP World to roll out phase I of Kochi terminal by June
The Vallarpadam terminal is a public-private partnership project being developed by DP World, along with the Cochin Port Trust. The paper said the project had been scheduled to be commercially operational by the first week of April, but has been delayed.
“The Cochin Port Trust has invested over $325m on road, rail connectivity and dredging of the channel,” sources told the Economic Times.
As the deadline of scheduled commissioning of the Vallarpadam International Container Transhipment Terminal by June is getting closer, the Kochi port is considering a review of various charges levied by it to create a level playing field for developing the terminal as a transshipment hub.
DP World which is operating the Rajiv Gandhi Container Terminal has also requested the port management for urgent relaxation of cabotage law and measures to ensure competitive marine charges so that the new terminal becomes viable as an international transhipment facility rather than acting as a feeder port to Colombo.
A note prepared by the port trust at the recently concluded board meeting pointed out that the emergence of Kochi as a transhipment hub for India and a maritime gateway to South India hinged on the competitive advantages that it can offer to the global container trade.
Currently Dubai, Singapore and Colombo act as transhipment hubs for as much as 80% of the India-bound cargo. Hence, development of ICTT as a transhipment hub capable of handling large ships would help attract a major share of this cargo now being handled by these foreign ports.
But for this, the terminal handling charges and vessel related charges should be competitive and necessary relaxations are made in Indian cabotage law to attract foreign vessels.
Tags: Vallarpadam Terminal
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Leave a Reply