The Hindu Business Line : Directional distribution for Vizag port sought

In a move that would attract more cargo towards Visakhapatnam Port, stakeholders of the port have called for a "directional distribution" of EXIM cargo.

Simply put, they indicated that the East-bound cargo from the country should be directed to the Eastern ports and West-bound cargo should be transported from Western ports.

With rail connectivity in place that terminates near the terminal, containers can be loaded straight from a train-to-the vessel and vice-versa, said the Visakha Container Terminal Pvt Ltd's (VCTPL) Chief Operating Officer, Capt Ankit A Vaishnav.

The company runs a container terminal at the port.

"With two railway sidings that can handle 45 wagons each at a time, a full rake with goods for Singapore, Far East or Australia can now come from the Northern or Western hinterland and terminate near the vessel," he said, adding that VCTPL had achieved average vessel turnaround of about 0.5 day.

Pointing out that 65 per cent of the country's container throughput is handled by Jawaharlal Nehru Port, which is congested, he said VCTPL was using 15 per cent of its capacity today. With a throughput exceeding 51 million tonnes this fiscal till February-end, the port was likely to handle 55 million tonnes during the fiscal, said Mr G Jai Dev Vandanam, Docks Manager, Visakhapatnam Port Trust, speaking at a CII seminar.

Meanwhile, the Container Corporation of India (Concor) Group General Manager, Mr H.D. Gujarati, assured that Concor would run more rakes towards the port if the market demands it.

He, however, also stressed on the need for Vizag Port to capture the traffic from Central India, amongst others.

"Till February 2006 this fiscal, we have run an average of six trains a month to VCTPL (with 56 TEU/train). We have dealt with 8.5 trains a month during September-December 2005," he said.