Cochin Port Trust (CPT) has launched plans to build an outer harbour and to acquire a dredger as part of efforts to scale down its high levels of dredging cost, Daily Shipping News.
In a message addressed to the port employees, the CPT Chairman Mr. Paul Antony said the Mumbai based I-Maritime Consultancy had been asked to prepare the project report for the outer harbour and install break waters. Japanese aid was expected for these projects, he disclosed.
These facilities would reduce siltation of the port, and had been initiated in the backdrop of the finding of a study by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Chennai that nearly 95% of the silt accumulates in Cochin port flows in from outer sea, he said. The outer harbour would reduce the dredging costs, as large vessels coming to the port can be berthed in the outer harbour itself.
Mr. Paul Antony said he had also requested special Central assistance considering that Cochin port's channel is being commonly used by Indian Navy, Coast Guard as well as the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL).
He said only a clarification from the Centre would be sufficient for overcoming the crisis that the International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT) Vallarpadam was facing, because of the Cabotage rules. The attorney general had already given the legal advice to the Centre that Cabotage rules were not applicable to movement of international cargo between the Indian ports, even if it (the cargo) had been transhipped in an Indian port, the Chairman claimed.
In a message addressed to the port employees, the CPT Chairman Mr. Paul Antony said the Mumbai based I-Maritime Consultancy had been asked to prepare the project report for the outer harbour and install break waters. Japanese aid was expected for these projects, he disclosed.
These facilities would reduce siltation of the port, and had been initiated in the backdrop of the finding of a study by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Chennai that nearly 95% of the silt accumulates in Cochin port flows in from outer sea, he said. The outer harbour would reduce the dredging costs, as large vessels coming to the port can be berthed in the outer harbour itself.
Mr. Paul Antony said he had also requested special Central assistance considering that Cochin port's channel is being commonly used by Indian Navy, Coast Guard as well as the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL).
He said only a clarification from the Centre would be sufficient for overcoming the crisis that the International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT) Vallarpadam was facing, because of the Cabotage rules. The attorney general had already given the legal advice to the Centre that Cabotage rules were not applicable to movement of international cargo between the Indian ports, even if it (the cargo) had been transhipped in an Indian port, the Chairman claimed.