Under the State government’s Coastal Shipping project aimed at encouraging the freight movement through cargo vessels, the first container vessel loaded with goods from Malappuram district was flagged off by V.K.C. Mammed Koya, MLA, at Beypore Port on Wednesday. Port officials said the containers loaded with rubber sheets were sent to a tyre factory in Mumbai.
“It was the first time that the Port got a booking from a local business team to make use of the container shipping facility instead of the conventional lorry service. Though we were facilitating the movement of container vessels from 2017, only unloading was done here instead of exporting goods using the container service,” said Port Officer Aswini Prathap. He said one more container ship would leave the port on July 10 with local agriculture produce. The main intention of introducing the Coastal Shipping project was to reduce the congestion on roads with container trucks. Also, the container ship service was projected the cheaper alternative compared to the fuel cost of trucks. The safety of shipped goods and its time-bound delivery were as well highlighted to attract the local exporters under the project. Mr. Prathap said the benefits of the container vessel service would be discussed in detail at an awareness seminar planned with the cooperation of various Chambers of Commerce in Kozhikode on July 12. Representatives of various shipping agencies in the sector too would attend the seminar and clarify the doubts of the participants, he added.
Assistant Coastal Shipping Manager Moosa Anas said the freight booking service would be simplified for the clients with the support of various contributors in the sector. The custom of preparing sailing schedules would be streamlined in such a way to benefit the exporters and plan their shipment in advance, he said.
In the first phase, the container ship service would be available to Mumbai and Gujarat with the support of Beypore-based Haveno Shipping and Logistics Limited. However, Port authorities confirmed that the service would be extended to more ports with the increase in the number of orders from more local business teams.
