To promote movement of cargo between Chennai and Puducherry coasts, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Chennai Port Trust and Puducherry Government in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The MoU was signed by Chennai Port Chairman P. Raveendran and Puducherry Chief Secretary Manoj Parida in the presence of Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari, Puducherry Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy, and Minister of State for Shipping Manukh L. Mandaviya.
As per the MoU, the Chennai Port will assist the Pondicherry Port in handling export cargo which will be transported by sea to Chennai for shipping to overseas destination through mainline and feeder vessels.
Similarly, the import cargo destined to Puducherry hinterland extending to locations such as Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, and Tiruchi in South, Salem, Namakkal and Villupuram in the west will be unloaded at Chennai Port and will be moved in small coastal vessels to Pondiherry Port, thus reducing total logistic cost besides easing road congestion.
While the Chennai Port will assist Pondicherry Port in marketing, tariff fixation, and other technical functions as and when needed, the Pondicherry Port on its part will dredge and maintain the port facilities to enable handling of vessels of draft 3.5 metres.
This new initiative will promote industrial growth in the Union Territory of Pondicherry in the coming years generating substantial employment potential and enhance investment by major industries in the Union Territory, a Chennai Port release said.
Dredging
“The next step is to complete dredging of 3.5 metres draft in 10 days. Pondicherry Port has to identify customers and fix feeder service between Chennai and Puducherry. We will encourage movement of containers and break bulk between the two ports. Initially, we will be plying a small vessel with 75 containers and later barges will be introduced to carry break bulk such as cement, iron and steel,” Mr. Raveendran told The Hindu .
According to him, Pondicherry Port has good potential as firms such as BHEL Tiruchi uses Chennai Port for moving heavy cargoes. On arrival, these cargoes can be stored in bonded warehouse in Puducherry and transported to Tiruchi by road. The potential cargo that can be moved from road to sea would vary from five lakh tonnes to one million tonnes, he said.
“We are appointing an Assistant Transport Manager to help Pondicherry Port to kickstart its operations. The MoU is valid for one year and we will form a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to take this project forward,” Mr. Raveendran said. The pact is expected to help promote industrial growth in the Union Territory and generate employment opportunities in the region.
Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy told The Hindu over telephone from Delhi that the development of the port would help shore up revenue and generate substantial employment opportunities.
In the first year of operationalisation, the port would handle 4 lakh tonnes of cargo and from the second year the quantum would be scaled up to 10 lakh tonnes of cargo per annum.
The CPT had agreed to spend ₹50 crore for augmenting the infrastructure, including road and rail connectivity, to PPT under the Sagar Mala project. They have agreed to bear the expenditure towards dredging this year, Mr. Narayanasamy said.
The Chief Minister said he had requested Mr. Gadkari to extend the coastal industrial corridor between Visakhapatnam-Chennai to Puducherry. The Union Minister had agreed to favourably consider the demand, he said.
The CPT and PPT would share the revenue, he added.
