VOC Port Tuticorin and Colachel not to be transshipment hubs in near future
The transshipment
hubs proposed at VOC Port Tuticorin and Colachel have been put on cold storage
if one goes by the statement of a top official of the Port and Shipping
Ministry an interview given to a Chennai based daily on the sidelines of
Bharath Pravah India along its shores dialogue
which was held in Delhi on January 18
Sanjeev Ranjan,
Secretary, Shipping said that ports at Kochi and Vizhinjam in Kerala as well as
Galathea Bay in Andaman Nicobar Islands have made a head way in the direction
of becoming transshipment hubs. “Some of the biggest of ships pass through Galathea
Bay, and we need to have a hub which serves ports all along the Bay of Bengal,
not only for India but neighboring countries of Bangaldesh, Indonesia and
Thailand,”
Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has directed all the
major ports to prepare a masterplan to become mega ports by 2047.
Transhipment hubs are
ports that have connections to originating and destination ports. Currently,
nearly 75% of India’s Transshipment cargo is handled at Colombo Singapore and Port Klang.
While the Colachel
transshipment terminal project was given in principle approval by the Union
cabinet way back on 2015, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi had given assurance that VOC Port Tuticorin will be developed as
transshipment hub.
