The Hindu Business Line : Kochi port hands over box terminal to DPI

The Chairman of the Cochin Port Trust, Dr Jacob Thomas, at the formal handing over of the Rajiv Gandhi Container Terminal to Dubai Ports International on Friday. — H. Vibhu

Kochi , April 1

THE Kochi port on Friday formally handed over the Rajiv Gandhi Container Terminal (RGCT), with the existing container handling facilities and 352 employees, to India Gateway Terminal Private Ltd (IGTPL), a subsidiary of Dubai Ports International (DPI), for the development of the international container transhipment terminal (ICTT) at Vallarpadam.

At a brief official ceremony held at Q-8 berth in the evening a team of senior officers of the port and IGTPL exchanged the documents in the presence of Dr Jacob Thomas, Chairman of the port.

The Traffic Manager, Mr H.C.Venkatesh, handed over the terminal quay length, container parking yard and an inventory of the export/import containers lying inside the terminal to Mr Myron A. Johnson, Terminal Manager of IGTPL.

The DPI would initially invest Rs 50 crore for the equipment acquisition and revamping and also use the most proven software system for container handling and yard planning.

The Chairman said that the handing over ceremony also marks the initial implementation of Rs 7,500-crore integrated development programme of the port aimed at making Kochi the most modern hub in the Indian Ocean Region. The ICTT project, which is a BOT contract, would prove to be a harbinger of the public-private partnership model of investment in infrastructure development in the country, he added.

As per the agreement, RGCT with all existing container handling equipment, has been handed over to IGTPL for operation until the commissioning of the ICTT facility at Vallarpadam Island. The modernisation and augmentation of the facilities at RGCT in line with traffic requirements will be undertaken by IGTPL, which has already indicated that this would include the introduction of two new mobile harbour cranes (MHCs) and four new rubber- tyred gantries (RTGs) within two months of hand-over.

Soon after, Navis SPARCS, a computerised terminal operating system, would be commissioned.

IGTPL will ensure ICTT is commissioned at Vallarpadam within four years from the date of handing over of RGCT, provided the port has fulfilled conditions such as rail and national highway connectivity to the Vallarpadam project site along with the obtaining of environmental clearance and special economic zone status for the project area.

The port has also constituted a core group consisting of senior officers of departments directly connected with port operations to ensure smooth interactions with the officials of IGTPL and to assist them in familiarising with the present practices and procedures at RGCT.

Several meetings and deliberations were also held between the committees constituted and IGTPL.

As per the terms of the settlement, the services of 352 employees, who are working at present at RGCT, would be transferred to IGTPL.

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