KOCHI: The economic crisis in Sri Lanka has triggered hopes of positioning the international container transshipment terminal in Kochi as a major transshipment port in the region. The Colombo port is the largest and busiest port in the Southeast Asia region. In the recent months, there has been a shift in cargo moving to Indian ports, including Kochi, Thoothukudi and Chennai.
The transshipment volume of ICTT Vallarpadam increased by 62%, recording a steep rise from 8,394 twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) in March 2021 to 13,609 TEUs in March 2022. Indian exporters route around 3 million TEUs of containers through Colombo port per year. Though India built the transshipment terminal at Vallarpadam in 2011, it failed to attract mainline ship operators.
“The Kochi port recorded a transshipment volume of 1,56,159 TEUs in 2021-22, recording an 80% increase compared to 2020-21, when the volume was 86,871 TEUs. In 2020-21, we recorded a 140% increase in transshipment of containers from the previous year when the volume was 36,183 TEUs,” said Kochi Port Trust chairperson M Beena.
“Transshipment volumes at DP World Cochin has increased by 131% in the January-December 2021 period compared to the same period in 2020 with 1.49 lakh TEUs. More than 25 additional mainline service calls were made for transhipment to DP World Cochin’s terminal in 2021 by major carriers like MSC, Maersk and CMA as an alternative to Colombo. DP World Cochin has also evolved to be a major hub for coastal transshipment and the volumes have grown by 48% in 12 months,” said DP World Kochi CEO Praveen Joseph.
According to Steamer Agents Association of Kerala president Prakash Iyer, the crisis in Sri Lanka can be beneficial to Kochi. “There is a congestion in container movement at Colombo port due to the delay in transporting containers to the global terminal by road. For example, containers sent by Indian exporters are unloaded at Jaya Container Terminal and transported to South Asia Gateway Terminal by trucks. Fuel and forex crises have caused a delay in transportation,” he said.
“Three ships that we regularly deal with have skipped Colombo port in recent weeks. Due to the delay in Colombo, 146 TEUs were brought to Kochi and shipped to Europe on April 10. But the biggest challenge is to attract mainline vessels. A ship calling at Kochi port has to pay `60 lakh as port charges. If the vessel visits Kochi four times a month and 10 times in three months, the Kochi port will give a discount of 85%. We have only one direct service to Europe and that too once in a fortnight,” he added.
However, shifting of transshipment from Colombo to Kochi cannot happen overnight as it will affect the operating schedule. The ships have to sail five hours from international shipping route to reach Kochi, while the time to reach Colombo is just one hour. Besides, Colombo can handle 100 containers per hour while Kochi handles barely 50 containers.