India’s own trans-shipment terminal

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh opened the prestigious International Container Trans-shipment Terminal (ICTT) project at Vallarpadam, near Kochi on 11th Feb. The project is a major milestone and is expected to boost the development of the country’s logistics infrastructure. The total cost of the first and second phase of the terminal is pegged at around Rs. 6,250 crore.
 
Speaking at the inaugural session, the PM said: “The absence of a global hub port and the lack of transhipment facilities had put our trade at a disadvantage. Today, about 60% of India’s export and import containers are trans-shipped through ports like Singapore and Colombo. This trans-shipment through ports outside our country involves an additional expenditure of US$ 300 per container and an extra 7-10 days of transit time. With the building of this terminal, our exporters can now access mainline container vessels at one of the most well located ports of India. The international trans-shipment terminal in Vallarpadam is thus a long awaited milestone, in the development of our country’s logistics infrastructure.”
 
The ICTT, Vallarpadam is India’s first dedicated international container transshipment terminal developed by Cochin Port Trust and India Gateway Terminal Pvt Ltd (IGT), a subsidiary of Dubai Port World (DPW), through a public private partnership on build operate and transfer (BOT) basis. The ICTT has been developed with facilities for handling mother container ships of 8000 plus TEUs capacities and is a State-of-the-art terminal, with modern cargo handling equipments and related super-structures to achieve an annual throughput of 3 million TEUs.
 
The BOT operator has completed the construction of phase-I A of the terminal with an investment of approximately Rs.1,600 crore. The first phase has a quay length of 600 mtrs, with a handling capacity of 1 million TEUs. This will be increased to 1800 mtrs in the final phase.
 
The project area has been declared as a special economic zone. A link road has been built to connect Vallarpadam, with NH 47 and NH 17. The Railway Vikas Nigam Limited has completed the 8.5 km rail link that connects this terminal to the railway network. The navigation channels are being deepened and this is a challenging task, as it involves the removal of nearly 26 million cubic meters of soil.
 
With the commissioning of this project, India will be filling the existing gap by entering the global hub of port arena, with its own world class facilities providing interface for the large vessels and the feeders. This project reduces the country’s dependence on foreign ports for transshipment of India’s export-import containers.
 
Facts & Figures:
•     Developed by Cochin Port Trust and India Gateway Terminal Pvt Ltd (IGT), a subsidiary of Dubai Port World (DPW) through a Public Private Partnership on Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis.
•     The foundation stone for ICTT was laid in February 2005.
•     To be operated as ‘DP World Cochin’
•     Being built at a cost (including road, rail connectivity and other infrastructure facilities) of more than USD 600 million or around INR 3,000 crore.
 
DP World Cochin is being developed in three phases:
•      First phase – completed with an investment of approximately Rs.1600 crores: with the 600-metre-long quay with a draught of around 14.5 metres to simultaneously berth several of the world’s largest container ships (with a nominal capacity of around 10,000 TEU – twenty foot equivalent container units) with the capacity to handle one million TEUs annually.
•      Second phase: to be expanded in line with market demand to handle around 1.5 million TEUs.
•      Third phase: to be completed with the capacity to handle around 4 million TEUs with quay length of 1800 metres.
 
DP World also operates terminals in Mundra, Nhava Sheva (Maharashtra), Chennai and Vishakhapatnam. The Company also building a new terminal facility in West Bengal.

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