BHUBANESWAR: THE Dhamra Port Company Ltd (DPCL) today entered into an agreement with the Port of Seattle for mutual cooperation and knowhow sharing as sister ports.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of DPCL, Santosh Kumar Mohapatra, signed the MoU with his counterpart at the Port of Seattle, Tay Yoshitani, here. The sister port agreement is the first that Port of Seattle has signed with any Indian port in its 100 years of operation.
As part of the agreement, the two ports will strengthen cooperation as well ass friendship through sharing of information on all issues of port operations, including cargo handling, safety, finance and port technology. Besides, the two will also assist each other in joint promotional activities in infrastructure, trade opportunities and commercial investment. There is a lot to learn from each other, not only technically but also through trade and marketing practices, Yoshitani said.
Sister port concept is very important to the port industry, he said and added there is tremendous willingness about this among the port industry of Europe and Asia.
The Seattle Port CEO lauded the environmental protection measures of Dhamra Port and said every port must take a cue from the way it has handled the issue of sea turtles.
Mohapatra said the MoU is just a beginning of the cooperation between the two ports and states. “We will closely watch the best practices of Port of Seattle in different sectors and see how best the same can be applied here.”
The mutual cooperation will be in the fields of sharing of information, technology and delegation. Since ports are centre of trade, such partnership will boost trade, he added. Minister of State for Commerce and Transport, Sanjeeb Kumar Sahoo, Secretary, Commerce and Transport, Gagan Dhal and Special Secretary GC Ray were present.
