• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Santanu Sanyal

Plans to re-route vessels to Chennai

Kolkata , July 18

CSAV (Compania Sud Americana de Vapores, S.A.), the 130-year-old shipping line of South America with registered office in Chile, proposes to expand its operation in India.

"We're mulling weekly calls by our mainline vessels at Chennai and to do this we might re-route some of our vessels currently deployed on the East-West services," Mr Indrajit Dasgupta, President, CSAV Group Agencies (India) Pvt Ltd, told Business Line here recently.

Mr Dasgupta, however, made it clear that the proposal was still on the drawing board. "We're conscious of the difficulties in operating out of Chennai," he observed.

Asked what capacity vessels would be deployed for Chennai calls if the proposal ultimately materialised, Mr Dasgupta said that vessels of varying capacity, ranging from 2,500-TEUs to as high as 6,500-TEUs, were now in operation on the East-West service and some of them, depending on the suitability of the Indian port, might be considered. In the East, the line's transhipment hubs were Port Kelang and Singapore, he added.

Services out of India

CSAV, as it was pointed out, now offers two direct services out of India, both weekly services. One of them, Super Galex Service in partnership with Zim and Hanjin, called at the ports of Mundra and Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal and the other, the round-the-world service, called at Mundra, non-NSICT terminal of the Jawaharlal Nehru port and Tuticorin.

While the Super Galex Service catered to trade to and from India and Far East/South Asia, the round-the-world service catered to imports to India from Far East-South Asia and exports out of India to Mediterranean, Europe and the US East Coast. "We do not offer services to Australia and New Zealand," he observed.

Subsidiary's growth volume

Later, addressing the 68th annual general meeting of Calcutta Freight Brokers' Association, Mr Dasgupta explained how India was becoming important to CSAV, which launched its wholly owned subsidiary for undertaking agency business in February 2005. The Indian subsidiary represented carriers of both CSAV and Norasia Container Lines Ltd.

In the first year of operation, the Indian outfit posted volume growth of over 20 per cent, ranking among the top 10 shipping lines operating out of India and catering to the world trade. If only the trade route covered by the India/Pakistan/Bangladesh/Ceylon Conference was considered, then the performance would be rated Number 2, he added.

Emphasising the need for stepping up infrastructure of ports, terminals and connectivity, Mr Dasgupta pointed out that none of 9,000-TEU capacity vessels currently rolling out of various shipyards could be handled in any of the Indian ports.

More Stories on : Shipping | New Projects

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Air Deccan announces free ticket offer

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line