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The V O Chidambaranar Port (formerly Tuticorin Port), a major port in Thoothukudi, has recorded a 8 per cent growth in cargo traffic till August in the current financial year. The port had a 13 per cent growth in container handling so far, said TK Ramachandran, Chairman, VOC Port Trust. “The steps we have taken in the past has helped the port in this performance,” he said at the third edition of CII Port Conclave 2019 - Port-Led Industrialisation.
Ramachandran said due to various efforts, the dwell time of vessels at the VOC port is less than 48 hours as against 70-100 hours in some of the other ports. Other factors like average output have also improved considerably, he added. A port trust release said up to August 2019, the port has handled 15.15 million tonnes, an increase of about 8 per cent over the corresponding period last year.
The major commodities that have contributed to increased volumes through imports are industrial coal, containers, fertilisers, rock phosphate, sulphuric acid, palm oil and timber. The commodities that have shown increased export volumes are copper concentrate, machineries and granite.
In container handling, the two private terminals - Dakshin Bharat Gateway Container Terminal and PSA SICAL Container Terminal - have together handled a record monthly volume of 80,474 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) during August 2019 and registered an impressive growth of 27.20 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year.
Dakshin Bharat Gateway Container Terminals handled its highest ever monthly container volume of 64,569 TEUs of containers in August 2019, surpassing 57,180 TEUs handled during July 2019. In current financial year ending August 2019, the Port has handled 3,53,306 TEUs of containers with a growth of 13.16 per cent when compared to the corresponding period last year, the release said.
The growth of Container handling through VOC Port has been underpinned by relentless performance of the DBGT container terminal by handling 90 to 100 hourly vessel moves with 3 quay cranes, 13 window weekly service and a fortnight service from the two terminals, seamless congestion free road connectivity from the hinterland to the Container terminals and busy bee services of the Container Freight stations & Custom House Agents.
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