The Cochin Port Trust has submitted a proposal for the Kochi-Coimbatore Industrial Corridor Project to the Union Government, M. Beena, Chairperson of Cochin Port Trust, said here on Friday.
“Coimbatore is the strongest industrial base which supports the Cochin Port in terms of cargo,” she said at a trade meet organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore (ICCIC) in association with Cochin Port Trust.
Noting that the modal shift to coastal cargo is growing in India, the Chairperson said that 1.2 billion tonnes of goods were loaded and unloaded across the country last fiscal.
“The Government is also promoting the modal shift from road and rail to coastal shipping of goods,” Ms. Beena said.
Speaking on the achievements of the Port, she said that the container traffic reached an all-time peak of 5.95 lakh twenty-foot equivalents (TEUs) in 2018-19. The Cochin Port Trust was trying to convert Kochi into a “transshipment hub.” Noting the “strategic location of Cochin Port in the present tourism ecosystem,” she said the port was preferred for cruises connecting South Asia, West Asia and North Africa and it hosted international cruises such as Queen Mary 2. “Cochin Port is on the path of progress and higher growth,” Ms. Beena said.
V. Lakshminarayanasamy, President, ICCIC, said the Cochin Port is the closest to Coimbatore as the distance was only 190 km. He urged the Cochin Port Trust to look into issues affecting exporters, such as integration of information, transportation, warehousing, material handling, packing and customs clearing. “The Chamber will be happy if Cochin Port could handle inland transport [in a] cost-effective manner,” he said.
