Visakhapatnam Port Tries to rope in Guntur Cargo but may face competition from Krishnapatnam

The Visakhapatnam Port Authority is trying to rope in exporters from Guntur to use the state-owned port. They are particularly targeting exporters of agri products like chilli, textile, cotton, tobacco and other agricultural commodities. In spite of availability of such a high-end infrastructure and seamless services at Vizag port.

Majority of exports from Guntur are routed via the Chennai Port. Vizag Port officials revealed that not even five per cent of the cargo from Guntur district is loaded or exported from the VPA and entire goods are being exported through Chennai Port. Chennai is closer to Guntur than Visakhapatnam. With Krishnanpatnam deciding to concentrate on handling bulk cargo, the port has more location advantage than even Chennai.

Realizing this gap, the ?Visakhapatnam Port Authority, in association with the AP Chamber of Commerce, organized a trade meet at Guntur last week. Durgesh Kumar Dubey, Deputy Chairperson, VPA urged the prominent importers and exporters to make use of the opportunity available and expressed his concern and informed them to trade their business through the Port of Visakhapatnam. It would help in the overall development of export and import business of Andhra Pradesh at large and cargo improvement of Visakhapatnam Port in general, he observed. 

B. Ratna Sekhar, Traffic Manager, VPA, made an exclusive presentation of the various developmental and infrastructure available in Vizag Port like berths capacity, cargo profile, handling and storage facilities, rail and road connectivity, key performance indicators, traffic handled, green port initiatives and sustainability, cruise terminal facility and others. He said that the majority of the vessels carrying cargo from Chennai would visit Visakhapatnam.

He said that the ship, which started at Chennai, would reach Visakhapatnam after 48 hours and then move. Meanwhile, the traders could utilize that 48 hour gap and send their goods to Visakhapatnam as a second option to catch the same ship. He added that the majority of the exporters were waiting for the alternative ship at Chennai Port itself. He suggested that, instead of waiting at Chennai Port, they can send their goods through Vizag port.

M. Angamuthu, Chairperson, VPA, said trading through Vizag Port would boost the Andhra Pradesh business in the fields of Indian tobacco, chillies, textiles, cotton and others. P. Bhaskara Rao, President, AP Chamber of Commerce, informed that one of main reasons for not choosing the Visakhapatnam Port for exports and imports from Guntur and Vijayawada was higher costs involved for cargo handling here, than Chennai.