The Hindu Business Line : Vallarpadam ICTT: Set to make Kochi a key hub

The emergence of Kochi port as a transhipment hub for India will become a reality within a year as the construction work for the first phase of the international container transhipment terminal (ICTT) project is progressing rapidly at Vallarpadam.

Vallarpadam, once developed, will make Kochi a key centre in the shipping world, thereby reducing India’s dependence on foreign ports for transshipment. The ICTT project will be the largest single player among the container terminals planned in India and the first to operate in a SEZ. One of the essential requirements of a hub port is that it should be adjacent to the trunk sea trade route for the minimum diversion of mother vessels, so as to reduce unproductive voyage and port time.

Kochi, being adjacent to the trunk sea trade route and linked to the hinterland through a well-developed system of national highways and rail connections, is an ideal location for the development of hub trade.

A visit to the project site revealed that the area is bustling with construction activity. which included piling, soil improvement, sand piling, sheet piling, building work, fabrication of piling gauges, casting of prefab panels, manufacture of paver blocks, and so on. If the present pace pf work is sustained, the first phase of the project is expected to be commissioned on schedule.

Steady pace

Speaking to Business Line at the construction site, Mr Suresh Joseph, General Manager, DP World, Kochi, said that the construction activities that had commenced in January are progressing at the right speed, without any hurdles. “So far we have completed 28 per cent of the work and by December, we expect to reach 45 per cent”, he said. With this pace, he hoped that the first phase of the project would be ready by November 2009.

Simplex Infrastructures Ltd, Kolkata, is the civil contractor engaged by DP World for the work. The project will use close of 9,000 tonnes of steel and 11,000 tonnes of cement. Mr Joseph said that 80 per cent of the steel had arrived at the site.

The ICTT project, which will be set up on 115 hectares of unencumbered land, is proposed to be developed in three phases. Phase IA will be developed with 600 metres of quay and is designed to handle one million TEUs. This phase is expected to cost Rs 1,300 crore and there has been a considerable increase in project costs due to cost escalations, said Mr Joseph.

Later, Phase I B will developed by adding another 300 metres of quay with the capacity to handle additional half a million TEUs. The second phase will have 900 metres of quay and total quay length for the ICTT project would be 1,800 metres, with the capacity to handle 3 million TEUs.

Phase IA of the project will be supported by six Super post-Panamax cranes, 3,500 ground slots (including 450 reefer points), 15 eco RTGs, 5 reach-stackers, etc. The terminal facilities and processes have been designed to accept and service the largest container ships afloat today, such as the Emma Maersk.

Road, rail connectivity

It will also have two rail handling sidings capable of handling 12 trains per day and five km of road. Provisions have also been made to locate a security scanner to screen containers inside the terminal.

A new 8-km electrified rail link with a capacity to carry 15 trains each way will connect Vallarpadam ICTT to the main lines of Southern Railway at Edappally. Likewise, the new 18-km four-lane National Highway provides surface connectivity to NH17 and NH47.

While the first connects to the Konkan region, the latter connects to the growing hinterland in the South, Central and the East.

Apart from this, the development of the coastal highway will provide additional access to the two national highways, thus ensuring 100 per cent road connectivity.

Asked about the exact date on the commissioning of the project, Mr Joseph said that the authorities expect to shift the activities from Willingdon Island from November 1, 2009 provided the infrastructure support, including road and rail connectivity and dredging requirements to berth mother vessels at the terminal, are ready by that time.

“We will be ready by November next year as the Port Chairman has given an assurance that all these facilities will be ready by the time. We are going ahead as per this schedule”, he said.

He referred to the proximity to East-West trade routes as the greatest advantage for the Vallarpadam ICTT. It has the shortest deviation from both the Suez and the Middle East routes, compared to any other port in India. Besides saving on steaming time and costs, the proximity saves considerable time and cost for cargoes originating or terminating in the sub-continent.

The containers landed at the terminal will have a multi-modal option to transit to the hinterland. The terminal will have the facility to berth a mainline vessel and a feeder, together with the possibility of hot-seat exchange of boxes. From a feeder, a container could be directly put on to the mainline vessel, or vice-versa. This will result in better transit times for the shipper.

The existing container terminal at Kochi, operated by DP World, has excellent connectivity to the ports on the West coast. Tuticorin provides support on the East coast. Plans are on to connect Haldia, Visakapatnam and Chennai, thereby ensuring holistic coastal support to the India hinterland, he said.

Moreover the development of ICTT at Vallarpadam has seen a flurry of activity in commissioning container freight stations, empty container parks, logistics parks, warehousing and the like, that have never been seen in Kochi till now, Mr Suresh added.