THOOTHUKUDI: VO Chidambaranar Port and SIPCOT signed a memorandum of understanding for developing the National Mega Shipbuilding cluster in Tamil Nadu in the presence of Minister of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, on Friday.
Sonowal paid floral tributes to the statue of legendary freedom fighter VO Chidambaram Pillai at the port to commemorate his 154th birth anniversary.
He inaugurated the green hydrogen pilot project of a capacity of 10 Nm³/hr, worth Rs 3.87 crore at the VOC port campus, making it the first port in the country to produce green hydrogen. A rooftop solar power plant of 400 KW capacity and a Link conveyor from coal jetty-I to the port coal stack yard were also inaugurated.
He laid the foundation stone for the pilot green methanol bunkering and refuelling facility aimed at supporting the Coastal Green Shipping Corridor between Gujarat’d Kandla and Thoothukudi, a six MW Wind Farm Project, the construction of a Multi-Cargo Berth, a four-lane concrete road from TPS Roundana to Check Post 2, and the Tamil Nadu Maritime Heritage Museum.
VOC port chairman Susanta Kumar Purohit and SIPCOT managing director Dr K Senthil Raj signed a MoU for the ship building, repair, and recycling cluster in the presence of Sonowal. VOC port also signed MoUs with Indian Port Rail & Ropeway Corporation Ltd to establish rail connectivity for the outer harbour project, and with National Thermal Power Corporation to implement a green mobility initiative.
Three major TN ports like Chennai, Kamarajar, and VO Chidambaranar ports, have doubled their capacity, growing from 167 million tonne per annum to 338 million tonne per annum in last 10 years. By grabbing a Rs 41,000 crore investment in a green hydrogen project, VOC port is emerging as a leading green gateway of Maritime India, Sonowal said.
Referring to the upcoming shipbuilding project in Thoothukudi, he said that it will create employment scope for the youth. India is going to become the top 10 shipbuilding nations by 2030 and will be among top five shipbuilding nations in the world by 2047.