Eight more ships will call at Vizhinjam International Seaport with container cranes required for the under-construction port in the coming days, said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Speaking after inaugurating a reception accorded to the first project cargo vessel at Vizhinjam, Mr. Vijayan expressed hope that the project will be fully commissioned in five to six months.
A total of eight Rail Mounted Quay Cranes (RMQC) and 24 Rail Mounted Gantry Cranes (RMGC) will be delivered by Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Company Limited (ZPMC). Another ship called Zhen Hua 24 will soon embark on its voyage to Vizhinjam with another crane consignment which is tentatively scheduled to reach here on November 15.
Meanwhile, the first ship, Zhen Hua 15, that called at the under-construction Vizhinjam International seaport will leave for China by October 21 after unloading the container handling cranes here. The staff brought by the ZPMC will unload the cranes with the help of rails and mount the ship-to-shore container cranes and yard cranes here before leaving for China.
Karan Adani, the chief executive officer of Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd, who spoke at the inaugural function, said with the berthing of the first vessel, we are keen to commence Phase II of this project. On this historic occasion, he also recalled the historic berthing of Alpha 2 at Mundra port in October 1998.
“After 25 years of the glorious history of maritime development at Mundra, we are now committed to not only recreating the Mundra scale of development here but also creating on an even larger scale of opportunity for the people of the State. We expect the port project to generate employment for more than 5,500 people through direct and indirect jobs - and our community outreach programs will benefit both lives and livelihoods in this neighbourhood,” he added.
