Containerized volumes are steadily increasing on the East Coast of India. Keeping pace with the growth, Krishnapatnam Port Co. Ltd. (KPCT) now offers a new service to the Gulf sector. Simatechin association with Evergreen Line recently launched a joint CCG Service.The first sailing of this weekly service commenced at KPCT by the maiden call of M.V. Taroko on May 21, 2015.
This 28 day service will utilize four container ships of around 2,000 TEU each; three operated by Simatech and one by Evergreen Line.The service provides direct connectivity from Krishnapatnam Port (India) to Colombo (Sri Lanka), Cochin (India), Jebel Ali (UAE) andSohar (Oman) ports.
The service vessels would call KPCT every Thursday complementing the trade in the hinterland of Krishnapatnam Port to plan their exports and imports out of KPCT. Apart from providing shortest transit time to Middle East destinations, the service also provides an option of connecting the transshipment hub - Colombo during the mid-week. This Colombo connection is an add-on to the existing BOX (jointly operated by BTL, Seacon& OEL) & MSC feeder services currently operating out of KPCT.
KPCT is one of the few terminals in the world that has grown exponentially in just its second full financial year of operations. A growth of 57% was registered in the last fiscal year (April 2014 - March 2015) by handling 91,572 TEU vis-à-vis 58,577 TEU the previous fiscal.To facilitate the growth of its hinterland, KPCT now offers a rail service from ICD Bengaluru in addition to ICD Hyderabad. Due to suchlogistical advantage,fasterturnaroundtimes,andcompetitivetariffs, KPCT is turning out to be the preferred hub for container trade on the East Cost of India.