Kochi port could emerge as a prominent bunker hub in the South Asian region in the next three years given its infrastructure and system, according to experts in the industry. Bunkering is the act or process of supplying a ship with fuel.
Participating at a national-level bunker business meet here, they exuded confidence that Kochi would touch four million tonnes of annual bunker sales in the next three years from the current 1.3 lakh tonnes a year given its geographical advantage in all spheres of maritime trade.
The price competitiveness of bunker supplies from Kochi, which is comparable to major bunker ports such as Fujairah and Singapore, augurs well for the port to firmly etch its position as a major bunker point, they said.
The experts also noted that the proactive measures taken by the port in providing world class infrastructure and trade friendly procedure makes Kochi the most promising port in the region and the initiative taken by the port was aptly timed.
Apart from this, they cited the efforts in putting in place simplified procedures, liberalised tax regime, concessional tariff and a conducive business environment would promote bunker trade from Kochi in a big way.
Organised by the port, the bunker business meet provided a platform for all major stakeholders in the bunker trade for information interchange and interaction with the leading players of the bunker trade in the country.
Earlier inaugurating the meet, Gautam Chatterjee, Director General of Shipping lauded the concerted efforts taken by Kochi port, Kerala Government and Customs for providing streamlined trade-friendly procedures and invoked the bunker suppliers and traders to avail the facilities at the port to boost the bunker trade.