Container feeder service on the Indian coast to get a big boost following the commissioning of the D. P. World container terminal in South India
The commissioning of the transshipment hub of D.P. World at Vallarpadam in South India in three months’ time is expected to bring in two million containers that are transshipped at foreign ports. With the focus on transshipment is likely to shift to Vallarpadam, shipping companies are looking at prospects for starting container feeder services on the Indian coast.
On the sidelines of the seminar on ‘Coastal Shipping’ conducted by the Chamber of Indian Industry last week, Capt Anil Singh, Senior Vice President & Managing Director of D.P. World Sub Continent informed, “We have been in discussion with various companies like Gati, who have shown an interest in moving containers to and from our transshipment hub – the International Transshipment Container Terminal (ICTT) at Vallarpadam.”
This development follows the earlier announcement by Capt Singh about D.P. World’s transshipment hub having been designed to bring in over two million TEUs containers of Indian cargo destined for Western India that gets carried to Jebel Ali, Colombo and Salalah for handling transshipment. “All this transshipment will begin to take place at ICTT once the terminal becomes operational,” he stated.
Atul Srivastava, Head - Commercial of Gati, Express and logistic service provider who runs coast to coast services said, “Six vessels are already operating on India’s Eastern coast. Three are multi-purpose vessels and three are container ships. We intend to bring in 8 to 10 container vessels to undertake the feedering service on the West coast of India and are in talks with D.P. World in this regard.”
Doehle Danautic Logistics Pvt Ltd.part of the Peter Doehle Group arealso drawing up plans to run container services. “We are watching the situation and may consider flagging in at least 10 vessels depending on how the situation evolves,” informed a spokesperson for the company. “As per the prevailing regulations we will have to get the ships registered with the Director General of Shipping before operating on the coast.”
Not wishing to be left behind, the Shipping Corporation of India, SKS Logistics, Shreyas Shipping, et al are firming plans to corner a share of the trade. They already have a significant presence on the Indian coast and are augmenting their fleet for expanding their activities. An official in the Directorate of Shipping confirmed that several overseas players are expected to flag in their vessels at an opportune time.
Global marine terminal operator D.P. World is already having five container terminals in India. They are India Gateway Terminal in Cochin, Visakha Container Terminal in Visakhapatnam Chennai Container Terminal in Chennai, Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal, JNPT near Mumbai and the Mundra International Container Terminal in Gujarat. The ICCT will be the sixth venture of the company in India.