The under-construction Vizhinjam International Seaport on Thursday received its first cargo vessel with the berthing of the project cargo vessel, Zhen Hua 15 from China, sailing under the flag of Hong Kong.
The vessel which began its maiden voyage to Vizhinjam from the East China Sea on August 31 with one quay crane and two yard cranes fabricated in China berthed at the port by afternoon.
Before docking the vessel at the port, tugs pressed by the port developer to haul the vessel at the outer anchorage gave it a water salute. Four tugs and a pilot-cum-survey vessel procured from Japan were pressed to bring the vessel to the dock, with two tugs pulling the vessel and two others orienting it from the sides. The pilot-cum-survey vessel led the convoy. Ships are generally turned off when they near a port as a powered ship within a port (a controlled area) poses many operational threats to the port infrastructure.
The first project cargo vessel being brought to the berth at the under-construction Vizhinjam International Seaport in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.
It will take around 10 days for the ship crew and service engineers brought for unloading the consignment to offload the cranes. Though the vessel called at the port, the port’s facilities will not start operations. Three more lots consisting of eight Rail Mounted Quay Cranes (RMQC) and 24 Rail Mounted Gantry Cranes (RMGC) will arrive by next month and after the installation, testing, and commissioning of the equipment, the first phase of the port will be operational likely by May, 2024.
A milestone
With the completion of the first phase, the first mother port in the country would be able to handle around 1 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) a year, said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The Vizhinjam International Port, hardly 11 nautical miles away from the international shipping channel and with a natural draft of 20 m, would be a milestone in the development index of Kerala, he said.
The Chief Minister will inaugurate on Sunday a formal reception to the cargo vessel under the aegis of the State administration.
Published - October 12, 2023 08:42 pm IST
