VISAKHAPATNAM: Having the lion’s share of the seafood exports in the country, the Visakhapatnam Container Terminal Private Limited (VCTPL) has been handling the highest number of Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit (TEUs), a measure of a ship’s cargo carrying capacity, from the Visakhapatnam Port Trust. VCTPL CEO Sushil Mulchandani said that Andhra Pradesh is contributing 49 per cent of the total seafood exports from the country.
The VPT remains numero uno among all the major ports in the country in when it comes to exports of seafood in terms of value and foreign exchange earnings. For the last three consecutive fiscal years, the VCTPL of the VPT has stood first in the seafood exports.
The VCTPL is instrumental in serving the trade by arranging additional facilities for seafood exporters. Notwithstanding the bleak trends across the globe, the VCTPL successfully handled 9,325 TEUs in the last fiscal quarter (April to August), as against the 7,357 TEUs in the corresponding period last year, posting a 27 per cent growth.
With many initiatives, VCTPL is now poised to post about 30 per cent growth in seafood exports by the end of the current fiscal, said VCTPL chief operating officer Sushil Mulchandani.
Last fiscal, India exported seafoods of 9,45,892 MT valued at `30,420.83 crore, with the USA and South East Asia remaining the major importers of Indian seafood. The frozen shrimp continued to be the major export item followed by frozen fish.
The Visakhapatnam Fishing Harbour has registered seafood of 1,28,718 MT, worth `7,161 crore. With Visakhapatnam Port registering the highest exports of seafood, the VCTPL facilitated a green channel mechanism to receive the trucks carrying refrigerated containers from the terminal bypassing the regular queues. This reduces time taken to reach the port, saves power backup costs on board trucks, demurrage costs and waiting costs at the terminal, Mulchandani said.
The VCTPL is now encouraging exporters by accepting the refrigerated containers even two hours prior to the sailing to ensure that the refrigeration costs incurred by the exporters reduce to the minimum.
The VCTPL has also initiated a pre-test inspection facility within the terminal to enable exporters to pick up the ready-to-use container to save time and cost.
Earlier, exporters used to pick up the container from the terminal and approach a PTI test centre to get it ready for use.