The Chennai Port Trust will sign more than 15 MoUs with various institutions ahead of the Virtual Maritime Summit 2021 being held from March 2 to 4. The summit will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Chennai Port Trust Chairman P. Raveendran said on Monday that one of the important MoUs would be for the formation of a special purpose vehicle between Chennai Port, the State government and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for a multi-modal logistics park at Mappedu. “We have finished doing the feasibility study for this project. We will find a private operator to run this project and will bring in an investment of ₹1,500 crore,” he said. Another important MoU included exploring the feasibility of running passenger ferry services between Chennai and Puducherry and Karaikal, he said.
“When ships come in, they need electricity for which they use diesel generators; to avoid this, we plan to start supply of power from shore using a specific system and signed an MoU with the Navy. With the Indian Oil Corporation, we will carry out a study to see if Chennai can be a hub for bunkering,” he said.
With over one lakh delegates and 40 countries participating, this summit was expected to be a platform for showcasing opportunities in the maritime sector, Mr. Raveendran added.
