The Hindu Business Line : Seaways group expanding services, through acquisitions, chartering

Kolkata, Oct. 17 Hyderabad-based Seaways Group, which offers shipping services on the west coast as well as the Bay of Bengal, is expanding its services. The capacity addition will be both by way of outright purchase and acquisitions through charter.

The Group’s newly-built 629-TEU capacity container vessel, MV Seaways Prestige, was flagged off here on Wednesday on its maiden voyage to Singapore via Chittagong.

“With this acquisition, our fleet strength goes up to six, likely to become nine by the end of this year”, Capt P.V.K. Mohan, CMD of Seaways Group, told Business Line here on Wednesday.

Flagging off the vessel, Dr A.K. Chanda, Chairman, Kolkata Port Trust, said the number of feeder vessels and with it the number of voyages operating out of Kolkata was on the rise. “This has also put on our shoulder additional responsibility of offering top class services,” Dr Chanda said expressing satisfaction that the service was launched on the occasion of the 137th anniversary of Kolkata Port Trust. The Deputy Chairmen of Kolkata Dock System and Haldia Dock and the Commissioner of Customs, among others, were also present.

The Seaways Group, as Capt Mohan pointed out, operated one 852-TEU capacity feeder vessel, MV Marina Star 2, on the Kolkata-Singapore sector. It would now be joined by MV Seaways Shipping, the 629-TEU capacity vessel. There was proposal to shortly launch a third vessel of the capacity of 650 TEUs on the route.

The services to Colombo from Kolkata, he said, had just been launched with 582-TEU capacity M V Kissama, to be joined by another vessel of the capacity of 600 TEUs by the end of this year. The 375-TEU capacity MV Kinship Bangar, now active on New Mangalore-JNPT-Pipavav route on the west coast, would be joined soon by another vessel of higher capacity, about 800 TEUs, also for operation on the west coast, though not on the same route. There was a further proposal for acquiring a still higher capacity vessel of 1,000/1200 TEUs in due course, the CMD said. Another vessel, Coastal Express, of the capacity of 224 TEUs, was being run on Chennai-Chittagong route. The 375-TEU MV Damad was now being dry docked at Colombo.

Earlier, in the day, Kolkata Port Trust organised the Fourth Anniversary Lecture on the occasion of the 137th anniversary of the port. The keynote address was delivered by Dr S.Z. Qasim, Chairman, World Environment Foundation, and former Member of Planning Commission. He spoke on Corporate Response to Climate Change. The anniversary lecture was given by Professor Andre Beteille, Chancellor, North-Eastern Hill University and Chairman of Indian Council of Social Science Research. At a function held in the evening, several port users were felicitated for their support to the port.