Projects aplenty planned at Tuticorin port

The Port of Tuticorin in South India has been granted approval to begin dredging a channel to allow ships capable of carrying 3,000 to 4,000 TEUs, a report in the Economic Times said Monday.

Currently, no port in India is capable of handling containerships carrying more than 2,600 TEUs. India's shipping ministry has prioritized dredging in the country to change that fact, with projects underway in Jawaharlal Nehru Port, the country's biggest, and Cochin, where a huge transshipment terminal is being built, among others.

The container terminal at Tuticorin is operated by a joint venture between PSA International and Indian logistics company Sical. The dredging will cost an estimated $134 million. No schedule was released by the government for when the project would be finished.

Meanwhile, the Tuticorin Port Trust said Monday it plans to build a outer harbor development with two or three new container terminals, an oil terminal and a general cargo terminal. The plans call for $1 billion in spending by 2012, the Business Standard reported.

The port handled nearly 400,000 TEUs in the previous fiscal year. 

Source: American Shipper