The Hindu Business Line : Kochi starts weekly mainline box service connecting major US ports

The Cochin Port Trust has made yet another achievement with the commencement of scheduled weekly mainline container vessel service connecting Kochi with major ports in the US.

The first vessel of this service OOCL Melbourne had arrived at Kochi on Saturday and sailed out on the same day.

Rotation service

The port rotation of the service is Colombo-Tuticorin-Kochi-Nhava Sheva-Mundra -Barcelona-New York-Norfolk and Charleston.

The service with a total of eight vessels of 2,800 TEUs capacity will be jointly run by the consortium comprising Zim Line, SCI, Emirates Shipping, OOCL and Italia Marittima (Evergreen).

A press release issued by the port said that arrival of mainline vessel m.v. Ville De Mars on September 15 last year was the first response to the promotional efforts made by the Kochi port, which was followed by Hyper Galex, mainline service on November 27 connecting Kochi with the West Asia, Far East and China.

While the first service would give timely connection to the mainline service to the US East Coast, scheduled every Thursday from Kochi, the second service will connect the Hyper Galex Mainline service on the westbound (West Asia) and eastbound (China, Far East) calls scheduled for the Saturday/Sunday from Kochi.

To Europe

The Kochi port and the container terminal operator India Gateway Terminal are making efforts to attract regular mainline services to Europe and East Africa from Kochi. It is expected that more mainline services will connect CKochin with major ports in different parts of the world, which will give more impetus to the prospering exim trade in the South India, the release added.

The release also pointed out that the transit time to the US East Coast will also reduce by a day, as Kochi will be the last port of call in South India.

Since there will no transhipment involved, exporters will now be in a position to commit delivery times to their consignees.

After achieving the status of deep draft port, the port had started offering various concessions for mainline vessels aimed at attracting vessels that directly connect ports in Europe, the US and the Far East.

Such direct sailings eliminate transhipment of containers from Kochi through other hub ports, thereby, saving substantial time and money, the release added.