The Hindu Business Line : Cochin Port Trust registers 41 pc growth in traffic

A TRADITIONAL country craft passing in front of the container terminal of the Kochi port. The port's container traffic has increased 17 per cent during the first fourth months. — K.K. Mustafah

Kochi , Aug. 7

Cochin Port Trust has registered a 41-per cent growth in traffic during the first four months of the current financial year, compared to the corresponding period in 2005-2006. The traffic handled during April-July this year was 50.76 lakh tonnes against 35.90 lakh tonnes handled during April-July 2005.

The average output per day also increased 29 per cent to 8,927 tonnes (6,897 tonnes). Most of the growth was attributed to items such as crude oil, timber and container traffic. Import of timber, which was resumed in 2004-05 after 20 years, has shown an upward trend, a press release issued by the port said.

It may be recalled that the port had become a deep draft port, during February this year, enabling ships having draft upto12.5 metres to call at Cochin Oil Terminal and Container Terminal. Reaping the benefits of the deep draft, the Cochin Oil Terminal started receiving vessels having parcel size of 80,000 tonnes and above (crude oil).

Oil Tanker m.v. Trust Spirit had berthed on July 19 at Cochin Oil Terminal with 83,421 tonnes of Arab light crude - an all-time record at the terminal.

The parcel size used to be in the region of 75,000 tonnes prior to achieving deep draft status. As regards the Rajiv Gandhi Container Terminal, currently operated by India Gateway Terminal (P) Ltd, a subsidiary of DP World, the number of containers handled during the first four months registered a growth of 17 per cent at 73,320 TEUs (62,697 TEUs).

Regarding the total number of ships handled, the press statement pointed out that a total of 365 vessels were handled at the port during the first four months of this year, as against 343 during the corresponding period in 2005. The average turn-around time of container ships fell from 1.80 days to 1.32 days during April-July 2006.