Cochin Port Trust is looking to a slew of projects to increase its business and these include plans for more coastal cargo movement, logistics support for hinterland industries, augmentation of cargo handling facilities for dry bulk and liquid bulk cargo at the South Coal Queue 1, Q9 and Q10 berths as well as increased cement handling facilities.
The port trust authorities, during the recently-concluded maritime summit, had signed MoUs for several of these projects. The projects envisaged involve a total investment of around ₹3,000 crore, capable of generating more than 3,000 jobs.
Augmentation of the supplies for the domestic construction industry for cement and clinker as well as establishing more cement import facilities on about two hectares of land with import and bagging terminals and silos with a capacity to handle about three lakh tonnes a year is among the projects under consideration. The port is already a cement hub with advanced cement import and bagging facility in place.
Speakers at the Maritime Summit had pointed to the need for a modal shift from road transport to coastal shipping with around 3,000 carriers using Kerala roads to move around 60,000 TEUs of cargo every month. There is an increase of about 10 per cent in the volume every year and the shift to water transport will be more environment-friendly, cheaper and safer in the long run.
As part of its efforts to increase the ease of doing business, the port authorities had, last year, constituted a consultative committee on the import and export business of the cashew industry.
Moving cement and other construction materials to different parts of Kerala via the coastal mode as well as transporting items like coffee to the port for export are areas that are being now looked into. Kollam, Kottayam, and Beypore hold prospects for substantially increasing the coastal cargo movement volumes.
