KOCHI: If land acquisition for rail and road connectivity was the major block for completing the construction of first phase of the Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT), now the provisions under the Merchant Shipping Act (Cabotage law) turn out to be a hurdle for its expansion. The Dubai Port World (DP World) authorities said they would think of the second phase expansion of ICTT only after ensuring relaxation in Cabotage law. “It is not viable to make investment without ensuring business or relaxation,” said K K Krishnadas, chief executive officer, DP World Cochin. According to section 407(1) of the Merchant Shipping Act the movement of foreign flagged vessels is banned along the Indian coast. Such a vessel can come to an Indian port, unload and load cargo but must return without loading/unloading it at any other Indian port. The State government and the Cochin Port Trust are also of the opinion that relaxation in Cabotage law is essential to attract major players in the international shipping industry to Vallarpadam. “Practically it is not viable to start the second phase as the first phase was not as successful as expected,” the Cochin Port authorities said. Ignorance of major shipping lines in calling at ICTT has become a set back for the Cochin Port Trust too, as one third of the total income generated at the terminal is for Cochin Port. The DP World has constructed a quay length of 600 metres in the first phase. The capacity of the terminal in the first phase is 1 million TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit). By the end of the second phase, the quay length will be increased to 1,800 metres and the handling capacity would be raised to 3 million TEUs.Nine months after commissioning, the ICCT has not achieved the full capacity of its first phase. One million TEUs is the capacity in the first phase but only 3.5 lakh TEUs has been achieved so far.
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