The Hindu Business Line : Vizag-Yangong feeder service sought

THE authorities as well as some users of Visakhapatnam port strongly feel that the Shipping Corporation of India should consider extending its present mainline container service to the UK/Continent also to cover the port.

It is further felt that there should be a feeder service connecting Visakhapatnam with Chittagong (Bangladesh) and Yangong (Myanmar) such that it could be linked to SCI's mainline UK/Continent service if and when it starts covering Visakhapatnam.

From Visakhapatnam, large quantities of aluminium and steel are exported to Bangladesh but there is no direct service to Chittagong port. The exports are routed through Singapore but it is not cost effective.

Also, sizeable quantities of pulses for the Nagpur region could be imported from Yangong through Visakhaptnam. Right now an estimated 700,000 tonnes of pulses are imported to India (mostly through West coast ports and some quantities through Kolkata/Haldia) from Myanmar but there being no service with the Myanmar's capital, the imports are routed via Singapore.

Bangladesh exports large volumes of jute goods to Europe. Also, tobacco grown in Andhra Pradesh and now exported to Europe through other ports could also be routed through Visakhapatnam.

If the feeder service is launched and SCI's mainline service to the UK/Continent is extended to Visakhapatnam then these two services could be properly synchronised such that there is no dearth of traffic.

Indfex II, the consortium of SCI and three foreign lines, has already extended its mainline service from Chennai to Singapore and several Chinese ports to cover Visakhapatnam port.

Our Kolkata Bureau