The Hindu Business Line : Chinese line begins feedering between Vizag, Colombo

"Dali", the feeder vessel made her first call at Visakhapatnam port on Tuesday and unloaded more than 100 boxes. With this, the number of feeder operators at Visakha container terminal, Visakhapatnam port's modern container terminal, goes up to four - the other operators being Bengal Tiger Line, Sea Consortium and Advance Container Line.

Two other feeder operators , namely, Orient Express Line and Samudera Shipping, too are believed to have shown interest in launching their feeder services from the terminal soon.

Visakhapatnam port's container terminal is currently run by VCTPL, a joint venture company formed jointly by United Liner Agencies belonging to the J.M. Baxi Group and Dubai Port Authority.

VCTPL started operation in end July and in past five months achieved a throughput of over 2,000 TEUs per month on an average, surpassing the previous monthly average of 1,500 TEUs.

The first full year of operation will see a throughput of 40,000 TEUs, or more than 3,000 TEUs a month on an average, according to VCTPL sources.

The optimism, according to sources, is based on several factors. First, the new handling equipment are being installed to improve efficiency. Second, the railway connectivity to the terminal has been fully established and Concor has joined hands with VCTPL to offer necessary services to cater to the requirement of the trade. Third, the persistent pendency problem for the past six months at NSICT on the west coast has set in motion a new line of thinking among many shippers to the south-east Asia destinations to explore the container handling facilities at Visakhapatnam port.

The throughput of the traditional export item such as marine product also posted 36 per cent growth in past few months, add the sources. The commissioning of Concor's ICD at Raipur, due shortly, is expected to give further boost to the volume of traffic, it is felt.

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Chinese line begins feedering between Vizag, Colombo