Transporting cargo via coastal sea route is less costly and pollution free than other means of transport and the State Government is on a mission to promote coastal shipping by developing and linking all 17 minor ports in Kerala.
As an initial step, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy officially inaugurated the coastal shipping project at the port here and the first ship, carrying tiles and marbles from Gujarat, called at the port on Saturday morning.
Earlier, in January, the State Government declared Re 1 as an operational incentive for moving either a tonne of cargo or a person along the coastal sea route for one kilometre in a bid to promote coastal shipping.
The Chief Minister said that by 2020, 20 per cent of the cargo carried through road and rail would be via coastal shipping.
“For this, we need to develop our ports. In the first phase, we will develop Beypore, Azheekkal and Kollam ports and in the second phase Vizhinjam, Ponnani and Kodungallur ports will also be developed,” the Chief Minister said.
He also said that while Kollam was much popular in trade and industries in the ancient times it lost its sheen in the contemporary era.
He said that coastal shipping would help in bringing back the lost glory of Kollam. “From today onwards, we should fight for it. Kollam- Kottappuram waterway project has not been finished as assured and hope it would be commissioned in January 2014,” the CM said.
Minister for Ports K Babu, who presided over the function, said that lack of ships impedes coastal shipping and now a ship was hired as a temporary solution for this.
The depth of the wharf at Kollam port is only 6.5 metres and it prevents accommodating big ships. Now we plan to deepen the wharf to 8 metres and steps have been taken up. He also said that cashew, construction materials, food items, wood, rubber, soda ash, coir, petroleum products etc would also be transported via coastal shipping.
“Integrated shipping and port facility security would also be made available here. Plans are also there to place LPG and cement terminal in the port at the earliest,” Babu said. Peethambara Kurup MP, District Collector B Mohanan, District Panchayat president S Jayamohan, Port director Jacob Thomas, Kollam Development Authority chairman A K Hafeez and DCC president G Pratapa Varma Thampan were also present for the ceremony.
Advantages
■ Coastal shipping will reduce environmental pollution and road accidents
■ Cost of fuel is very less compared to other means of transportation. Only 15 pc of fuel used for road and 5.4 pc used for rail transport is required for coastal shipping.
■ Highly inflammable products such as petrol, LPG etc can be transported safely.
■ Transporting a tonne of cargo per km costs `1.20 through road and 60 paise via rail transport whereas through coastal shipping it costs only 25 paise.
■ One ship carries cargo equivalent to 120 containers
■ `200 crore can be saved as road maintenance cost.
■ Price of products will come down to 15 pc
Major Projects
■ ` 50 lakh has been released for installing solar wharf light in ports. It’s a joint venture with Anert.
■ ` 3 crore as Coastal Shipping Promotion fund
■ Passenger ships by the end of this year
For Kollam Port
■ Kollam port development in PPP model
■ `13 cr and `5 cr for buying cranes and tug
■ Locker facility will be made available to
fisher folk
■ `3 crore for road development
■ Cement and LPG terminal
■ Solid waste treatment plant
■ `5.7 crore for dredging activities