No Transshipment hub at Colachel

Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonawal said the transshipment hubs will come up at Nicobar Islands and Cochin port hinting that similar projects sanctioned by the government in the east coast have been shelved.

Union cabinet had given in principle approval for Colachel transshipment terminal way back in 2016 while the stakeholders in Tuticorin Port have been pressing for the facility for the past 20 years.

The Minister in a written answer to the Rajya Sabha on July 19th said the ministry was in receipt of suggestions from stakeholders to make Visakhapatnam as Transshipment Hub.

Presently, however, these proposals namely developing Galathea Bay at Great Nicobar Islands, development of Cochin Port into Transshipment facility have been taken up by the Government of India. This apart, the State Government of Kerala in association with Private Investor and partial financial support from the Ministry of Finance (Government of India) is also developing a Transshipment project at Vizhinjam in Kerala

Currently, nearly 75 per cent of India’s Transshipment cargo(particularly from the east coast) is handled at ports outside India mostly in Colombo Port. The Ports of Colombo, Singapore, and Klang handle more than 85 per cent of this cargo.

Developing a port into Transshipment Hub will accrue significant benefits such as forex savings, foreign direct investment, increased economic activity at other Indian Ports, development of related logistics infrastructure, employment generation, improve operation/logistics efficiencies and increase in revenue share. Several other allied businesses viz. ship chandlery-ship supplies, ship repair, crew change facility, logistics value added services, warehousing and bunkering also come up at the facility .