Toyota Kirloskar Motor Ltd, (TKML) will start exporting cars from Kamarajar Port Ltd. (KPL), for which it had entered into a 10-year agreement with the latter.
An agreement to this effect was signed by the company officials in the presence of Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari and Minister of State for Shipping Pon. Radhakrishnan in New Delhi on Tuesday. Till recently, TKML was utilising the services of Chennai Port Trust. However, the company is reported to be shifting the export base due to congestion on road that affected easy movement of trailers. Automobile majors such as Ford, Honda, Nissan, Ashok Leyland and Daimler are already using KPL for export.
KPL Chairman-cum-Managing Director, M.A. Bhaskarachar said that at present the port has a large car parking yard to accommodate 10,000 cars, in addition to parking of 2,000 cars at the berth. Additional park yard is being developed to accommodate another 4,000 cars and the facility would be ready by September. “Last year, 1.71 lakh cars were exported through KPL and this year, it would touch 2-lakh mark. Till date, KPL has handled over 7 lakh cars and this shows, we are turning out to be a preferred port for car exports by different auto majors in the country,” he said.
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