Eyeing the thriving business of transshipment based at the International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT), Shreyas Shipping and Logistic Limited is starting a coastal shipping service connecting ports along the western coast to Kochi.
MV OEL Kochi, the first vessel of the service, called on ICTT on Tuesday. OEL Kochi, which has a Gross Register Tonnage (GRT) of 21,339 and a carrying capacity of 1,725 TEUs, will be sailing in the Kochi-Tuticorin-Mundra-Hazira Nhava Sheva-Kochi route.
Induction of a vessel into the feeder service by an Indian vessel operator gains significance in the backdrop of the demand for relaxation in the Cabotage Law.
In February this year, the Planning Commission had recommended a relaxation in the law for the exim containers handled at the ICTT for three years to the Union Government. However, the Union Government has not taken a final decision in this regard.
Section 407 (1) of the Merchant Shipping Act, which bans the movement of foreign-flagged vessels along the Indian coast, has been termed as the Cabotage Law. The strict provisions, coupled with less number of feeder vessels operated by Indian companies, are considered to be the reasons for the under-performance of ICTT which was commissioned in February 2011.
Speaking at a function organised at ICTT to accord a reception to the vessel, Shreyas Shipping chairman and managing director S Ramakrishnan said that the vessel was christened OEL Kochi primarily to promote connectivity between ICTT, Vallarpadam terminal, with other Indian ports and container terminals.
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