The Hindu Business Line : Chennai port goes for parking lease to ease traffic

"Vehicles now will first go to the Tiruvottiyur parking area and enter the harbour only after getting instructions from Chennai Container Terminal."

A FILE photo of container-loaded trailer lorries waiting at Chennai port.

Chennai June 19 The sight of a long queue of vehicles waiting to enter the Chennai port's Royapuram gate is a common one, but not so from July 1 as they will be parked a few km away from the port.

The Chennai Port Trust (ChPT) has taken on lease 11.5 acres of land in Tiruvottiyur, south of the port, from the Tiruvottiyur Municipality. This land can park around 500 container trailers.

The port trust would pay monthly Rs 11 lakh to the Municipality as rent for the land, according to Mr K. Suresh, Chairman, ChPT.

At present, the container trailers coming from all parts of the country directly enter the Chennai port through the zero gate. However, under the new system these vehicles will first go to Tiruvottiyur parking area and enter the harbour only after getting instructions from Chennai Container Terminal, Mr Suresh told Business Line.

The Chennai Police will soon issue a notification not allowing parking of vehicles in Royapuram, he said.

Daily, around 1,000 container trailers ply in and out of the port, said an industry source.

Agitating workers

For many years, parking of vehicles outside the `zero gate' has been a major issue in that heavily populated locality. Any disruption at the Chennai container terminal would lead to container trailers waiting in a long queue of a few km.

For instance, in the last two days around 500 container trailers were lined up for over 3 km due to a strike called by the drivers and cleaners of these vehicles.

They were demanding basic amenities, including toilets, to be provided inside the port.

The cleaners are not permitted to enter the container terminal, and they are also agitating on the issue of getting access into the terminal.

Incidentally, there is also another version to the strike.

A senior official of Chennai Container Terminal said some people do not want main line container vessels calling the port and resort to all sorts of way to disrupt the movement of vehicles.

For instance, in the last two voyages of the mainline vessel Maersk, a global shipping company, the drivers and cleaners have disrupted work for the same reason, he said.