The Hindu Business Line : Chennai-China box traffic to double in Oct

Chennai, Sept. 27 Container traffic between Chennai and China is likely to double with the launch of a direct container mainline service connecting the city with North China ports.

In August, two main line services — IndFX2 and ACS – for China from Chennai handled around 12,200 TEUs of Chinese containers (both import and export).

The number is likely to be around 24,000 in October with the launch of a new service called the North China Chennai (NCC) service, Mr Ennarasu Karunesan, Director and CEO, Chennai Container Terminal, told newspersons.

A tri-party consortium consisting of the Singapore-based Sea Consortium and two Taiwanese companies, Wan Hai Lines and Cheng Lie Navigation, will operate the weekly NCC service. Dolores, the first vessel on this service, called on Chennai port on Thursday.

IndFX2 and ACS connected Chennai with the Chinese ports of Dalian, Xingang, Yantian, Quingdao and Shanghai. The NCC service will add Lianyungang, a major industrial centre, to the list, he said.

The consortium partners will have four vessels of 1,400 TEU (twenty foot equivalent units) capacity each. The major items exported to China include granite, stones and slab, while machinery and electronic items are imports, he said.

Mr K. Suresh, Chairman, Chennai Port Trust, said with the current handling, Chennai Container Terminal will achieve a target of around five million TEUs in five years. The terminal is handling around one lakh TEUs every month.