Ideal gateway for Central & East Indian cargo

Since the inception of Visakha Container Terminal (VCT) at the Vizag Outer Harbour in 2003, the terminal has seen an average of 17 per cent annual growth so far and from a throughput of a mere 10,000 Teus in 2003, VCT is expected to cross the one-lakh teu mark this fiscal, said Capt. Sriram Ravi Chander, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of VCTPL, at an interactive trade meet held here.

According to Exim News Service, this modern box terminal is the most suitable gateway for the Eastern and Central parts of the country. Even Nepal has shown keen interest in the terminal, he said. Recently, Nepal government officials urged the Union government to sanction Visakhapatnam as an additional gateway port for Nepali goods, he disclosed.
The trade meet was organised by VCTPL, now in the seventh year of container handling here.
Mr Ajeya Kallam, Chairman of Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT), Mr M.S. Rao, Development Commissioner of VSEZ and officials of export-oriented units (EOUs), Mr M. Ponnuswamy, Commissioner of Customs, and Mr D. Kamilla, Divisional Railway Manager, EC Railway, also spoke at the interactive meeting.

Capt. Ravi Chander thanked the trade for its excellent cooperation and called it ‘partners in progress’. He also sought early and faster turnaround of rakes at the port-maintained marshalling yards. Rail-bound traffic from ICDs to VCT had gone up with more private rail operators showing interest to operate their cargo trains though VCT.

Mr Kallam was optimistic of the terminal’s growth and hoped that around 5 lakh teus would be handled by 2012 after more transhipment takes place here.

Mr Kallam disclosed that he had already forwarded the file requesting reduced vessel-related charges to the Visakhapatnam Board of Trustees. Since it would largely benefit the container trade, he hoped it would be cleared by this month-end.

The marshalling yard rake turnaround problem also would be suitably solved to facilitate faster movement of trains, he assured.

Mr Kallam said that Vizag Port had plenty of developmental plans and within 3 years, the Major Port’s infrastructure would equal any of the modern greenfield ports in the private sector.

He invited suggestions for the development of the Port and assured that every positive action would be taken in this regard. He also revealed that more development plans for container cargo storage yards and infrastructure facilities were on the agenda.
He reminded that Balmer Lawrie was planning to develop a ‘logistics park, which includes a CFS’ at the Port area very soon.

Terming Vizag Port as ‘most user-friendly Port’, he said it would soon become a commercial hub in container traffic.

Mr M. Ponnuswamy explained the Customs Department’s role as a facilitator of trade. Customs were the partners in progress of trade everywhere in the country and it helped the trade to improve its business.

Mr Ponnuswamy regretted that its most innovative offer of ‘Accredited Claim Programme’, along with Icegate provisions, had not got much encouragement from the Vizag trade and asked it to utilise these opportunities to get things cleared faster without any verification.

Mr Rao asked the exporting units to utilise the modern facilities at Visakhapatnam and send their cargo through Vizag Port, which was very user-friendly.
Mr Kamilla explained that out of the 882 million tonnes freight handled by the Railways, the EC Railway alone handled 42.5 million tonnes and most of this via Visakhapatnam Port. He assured his fullest cooperation to rail-bound cargoes run by private operators and CONCOR through VCT.

Capt. Vijay Gopal, CEO of Seaways Shipping Group and Vice-President of Visakhapatnam Container Line Association, said Vizag traffic would have shot up if there was no recession. He found containerisation of break-bulk cargo in the hinterland area slow.
He sought a gradual diversion of Kolkata-bound vessels to Visakhapatnam which could also be used as transhipment point.

Capt. Gopal felt that the next few years would be very tough for the shipping industry and port authorities should offer concessions to encourage shipping lines.

On behalf of the Vizag trade, Mr K.V. Vijayakumar, Secretary of the Vizagapatnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Mr G.Pattabhiramayya, President, Shipping Agents Associations, thanked the terminal for providing numerous facilities to the trade.

While Mr Sushil Mulchandani, Deputy COO of VCTPL, welcomed the gathering, Mr Balakrishnan, Deputy General Manager of the terminal, proposed a vote of thanks.

Representatives from local trade and exporting units attended the trade meet in large numbers.

(Source: Transport Weekly)