Seaport immigration office opened at Vallarpadam ICTT

Realising a long-pending demand of the shipping fraternity, a seaport immigration office was opened at the International Container Transshipment Terminal, Vallarpadam.

KOCHI: Realising a long-pending demand of the shipping fraternity, especially that of the vessel operators, a seaport immigration office was opened at the International Container Transshipment Terminal, Vallarpadam, the other day.

Earlier, officers from the immigration office at Willingdon Island had to travel to the ICTT for carrying out the formalities related to the arrival and departure of ships. On an average, around 60 ships visit ICTT in a month and the Immigration Department officers had to make around 120 trips each month to carry out their duties.

The office was  opened at the ICTT by the Cochin Port Trust with the support of India Gateway Terminal Pvt Ltd, the operator of the terminal, and the Cochin Steamer Agents Association.

“The new office will be a huge relief to the Immigration Department officers as it will help save a lot of their journey time for performing duties, thus providing better and timely discharge of formalities which is conducive to the government’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ policy. This will also help in quicker turnaround of vessels calling at the ICTT, thereby pushing up overall utilisation and efficiency,” the Port Trust said in a release.

The office was inaugurated by the Foreigner Regional Registration Officer (FRRO) Sethu Raman. Cochin Port Trust traffic manager Goutam Gupta; deputy conservator Captain Gouri Prasad Biswal; senior deputy traffic manger Jimmy George; DP World Cochin chief executive officer Jibu Itty; Raghu Jairam and Cochin Customs Brokers’ Association president Abdul Azeez were present at the function.

Cochin Steamer Agents Association president Prakash Iyer welcomed the gathering and Cochin Seap Port Chief immigration officer Rekha Nair proposed a vote of thanks.

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