The Hindu : Vizhinjam transshipment terminal to become regional hub

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 08, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Vizhinjam transshipment terminal to become regional hub

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MARCH 7. India's first deepwater international container transshipment terminal, to come up at Vizhinjam, will not only fill the yawning gap in the handling of the country's container cargo, but could also emerge as a regional hub due to its close proximity to international shipping lines.

The Vizhinjam deepwater transshipment terminal, to be located some 20 km from here, is to be developed through public-private sector partnership on a `Build-Operate-Transfer' (BOT) basis.

The bidding process for the building of the terminal started last week with a site visit by interested investors. A total of seven companies, which took part in the site visit, have been asked to submit their Expression of Interest (EoI) by March 15, following which the `Request for Proposal' (RFP) will be issued to them. The last date for submission of proposals is June 15.

Speaking of the growing need for a transshipment terminal in the country, officials closely associated with the Vizhinjam project said that according to the Tenth Plan document, the country was losing about Rs. 1,000 crores every year for not having a transshipment port.

``In the meanwhile, ports such as Colombo, Singapore and Dubai, which handle the entire transshipment needs of India, have grown by building their infrastructure,'' they added.

As per estimates, container trade in India, which was 3.34 million TEU (Twenty feet Equivalent Units) in 2002, is growing at a steady rate of 14 per cent per year. Currently, Indian ports rely either on direct services (60 per cent) or use far off ports for their transshipment needs (40 per cent).

Speaking of Vizhinjam's unique suitability to be developed as the country's first deepwater transshipment terminal, the officials said the port was located only ten nautical miles (one-and-a-half hours) away from major international shipping routes connecting Persian Gulf, Far East and Australia. There was availability of 20-metre contour within a nautical mile off the coast.

Also, the deep waters at the site enhanced its suitability as it would require no dredging for deepening and minimal maintenance dredging due to low littoral rift.

The initial draft of 16 metres at the berth is proposed to be increased to 18.7 metres in the final phase. The proposed phase-one development, to be completed by 2007, foresees facilities for two main lines and four feeder berths with a quay length of 1.4 km. The final phase envisages four main lines and nine feeder berths with a total quay length of 3.5 km.

The initial project cost, including state-of-the-art facilities and equipment, is estimated to be Rs.1,849 crores.

Describing as ``satisfactory'' the response of the private sector to invitation of EoI, the officials said while seven companies came for the site visit last week, teams from the Dubai and Singapore ports authorities had visited it some time back.

The seven companies which came for the site visit were Maersk from Denmark, AMP from Australia, Adani Ports and L&T Limited from India, East West Airlines, Hysoncells from South Africa and Indo-British Consortium of Ports.

Stating that Vizhinjam would be an ideal location for attracting mother vessels of up to 8,000 TEU, the officials said detailed traffic assessment studies indicated that Vizhinjam could be precisely configured to better meet the transshipment requirements of the region.--UNI

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala