Comments
The Cochin Port Trust is exploring ways to promote cargo movement to Maldives Port through a regular shipping service.
A lot of Indian origin produce are now routed to Maldives through Colombo, Dubai and Singapore and there is a scope to operate a weekly service of a 600 TEU vessel from Kochi to Male, senior port officials said.
Maldives imports about $1.5 billion worth of goods annually and the Male Port handles about 70,000 TEUs annually. Kochi is the nearest port, with only 30 hours sailing. A regular shipping service would mean just-in-time inventory for Maldives and reduce cost of imports as sometimes they are forced to airlift items in shortage, the officials added.
A team of officials from Maldives Port was here for to discuss the trade opportunity with the Chairman and DP World officials. It was decided at the meeting to apprise shipping companies and business community in Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as oil companies to tap this business opportunity and facilitate faster connectivity to Maldives via Kochi.
K K Krishanadas, CEO, DP World said that they have already started mulling opportunities to facilitate regular sailings to Maldives for cargo promotion.
Paul Antony, Chairman Cochin Port Trust hoped that the proposed 100 acre Free Trade Warehousing Zone (FTWZ) could be ideal to make use of the Maldivian trade opportunity.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.