V.O. Chidambaranar Port surpasses previous year's container traffic

V.O. Chidambaranar Port has surpassed 7,47,363 TEUs of container traffic handled in the previous financial year 2023-24 on 12.03.2025, 20 days ahead in the current financial year, setting a new benchmark in container handling capabilities. The Port has handled 7,21,268 TEUs of containers upto February 2025, registering an impressive growth of 7.52%.

The Ports container terminals, Tuticorin International Container Terminal and Dakshin Bharat Gateway Terminals with a combined capacity of more than 1 million TEUs and draft of 14.20 metres, capable of berthing 8000 TEU vessels, offers an impressive 30 plus container moves per hour, on par with global standards.

Recently on 27.02.2025, V.O. Chidambaranar Port has been honored with the Award of Excellence as the 3^rd best container Port among Ports handling more than 5,00,000 TEUs of containers in India by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. In addition, NICDC Logistics Data Services (NLDS) has highlighted the industry-leading performance metrics of container trade through VOC Port such as least export and import container dwell time, least CFS export cycle dwell time, in their Logistics Data Bank Annual Report 2024. The report also highlighted that Port’s DBGT container terminal is ranked as top performer among southern region Ports.

The container terminals of the Port offer mainline connectivity to Ports in far east, the middle east and onwards to the West, besides, comprehensive coastal connectivity, and daily sailings to Colombo. Recently, the Port has also announced various concessions for container vessels on vessel related charges and shifting charges to attract more volume through VOC Port.

Shri Susanta Kumar Purohit, IRSEE, Chairperson, in his message commended the relentless efforts of the container terminals, Port officials, Port users, and the entire maritime community for achieving record performances. He also stated that the Port has witnessed more than 30 ad-hoc calls from various container lines and Port holds immense potential to attract more volumes on completion of dredging and widening of the entrance mouth of the Port in a couple of months.