[sukhbirST]

Way back in 2003, I had the occasion to berth a small Naval ship alongside the old port whilst commanding. How times have changed. My concern is the unions, which have hindered hard working Keralites from working in the state. Thanks for sharing the news.

[maddy42]

What makes a port successful? Is it the management, industries around or the depth and land area available?

Will Wadhawan port coming up in Palghar be a competitor or complement the rest of the ports in the region?

Lastly how do people go about trying to secure jobs at the ports?

[guru_max]

Ideally, all the shipment that gets routed via Colombo will be routed via Vizhinjam. This might not incur additional cost.

There's a possibility of the goods moving to Vizhinjam via land from across the country. This may not make sense for everyone, but will make absolute sense for an exporter based in Madurai, Coimbatore,Tiruppur.

[navin]

Originally Posted by Cephalix

The repeated use of the term "India’s first deepwater transshipment port" when referring to Vizhinjam is puzzling when Mundra (another Adani port) has been offering transshipment services and a 17.5 m draft (18.0 m with the tide) for at least two decades now.

Originally Posted by SmartCat

For a transshipment port to be successful, LOCATION is the key.

...it makes sense for ship owners to use Vizhinjam rather than Colombo.

I am traveling right now, so I'll make it short.

1. Port capabilities (handling and shipping facilities) for ships are typically specified in TEU. Vizhinjam is expected to be able to handle ships as large as 24,000 TEU. As ships get larger, India needs more ports to handle ships greater than 20,000 TEU. Vizhinjam will be our first.

2. As Smartie said, it's all about location, location, location. That said, Vizhinjam might still have trouble challenging Colombo as a transshipment port of choice. Firstly, Colombo is still better located, and secondly, the cost per container/tonne offered by Colombo would be hard to meet, let alone beat.

[raj84]

Originally Posted by navin

2. As Smartie said, it's all about location, location, location. That said, Vizhinjam might still have trouble challenging Colombo as a transshipment port of choice. Firstly, Colombo is still better located, and secondly, the cost per container/tonne offered by Colombo would be hard to meet, let alone beat.

Colombo and Vizhinjam are both on the International Sea Route, with Vizhinjam having a small deviation advantage(negligible). However Colombo does not have a local market advantage, which Vizhinjam has. Vizhinjam caters to the whole Indian market with the benefit of being land and rail(in few years) connected for container movement. The containers transshipped at Colombo is majorly for India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and negligible for local market. So if India can export and import their cargo from an Indian transhippment port itself, why would they want to do that through Colombo(with higher logistics cost). Colombo can be preferred for containers to and from Eastern parts of India, as Vizhinjam to Eastern India ships would still need to go around Srilanka. That is why Adani has a terminal in Colombo. That will take care of the Eastern India cargo. As for competing with Colombo in terms of rates, Adani is aware of that and has announced they will make Vizhinjam cost competitive with respect to Colombo.

[sandeepmdas]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Unless it is going to cater for transient shipping, which I don’t think will happen....

If you can’t get those containers out or to your port it’s all a bit futile.

Jeroen

Interestingly, some kind of feasibility report they published in their website a couple of years back clearly reflected what you wrote.


IIRC it was like this: That (for survival) the port must find business as a transshipment terminal (and) Turnaround time is critical.

It is already happening, even thought the seasonal weather in south Kerala is not that ideal in these days. Most of the 1,930 containers "downloaded" from the first mothership have been "re-uploaded" to smaller feeder vessels. One has already left, now sailing along the western coast of India and the other is being loaded and will depart to the eastern coast.

The feeder vessel will transship around 860 containers from here, while another feeder vessel called Kmarin Azur had departed for Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) in Mumbai recently.
https://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...le68429777.ece

Unrelated:
Although the new port is just 10 nautical miles from the Colombo - Djibouti sea route, and the biggest loser is the Colombo port, things would change if the ongoing Houthi unrest will make the Suez canal unusable. The situation will reroute the ships around the African continent, and Colombo would be the Singapore of South Asia.

[itwasntme]

Vizhinjam vessel related charges revealed to be less than half of Colombo port! Not in the industry hence asking if these numbers are comparable, or are there more hidden charges which dilute this huge delta?

https://www.maritimegateway.com/vizh...-colombo-port/

According to the prevailing tariffs, a 30,000 DWT ship requiring 24 hours stay at the Vizhinjam Port is charged $10,000 towards vessel related charges, as compared to $21,000 at Colombo. The container handling charges at Vizhinjam are also said to be competitive.

[ashkamath]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Vizhinjam vessel related charges revealed to be less than half of Colombo port! Not in the industry hence asking if these numbers are comparable, or are there more hidden charges which dilute this huge delta?

This is interesting to know. Perhaps a new port needs to under quote to start getting business? The article also mentions that the port has the most latest cranes and automation. So turn around time should be quicker than Colombo and that's an attractive proposition. Eagerly waiting to see how the future unfolds for Vizhinjam

[maddy42]

This thread and the news made me visit this port in Trivandrum while on a road trip. The cranes are massive and their tops are visible from the highway itself. The approach road to the viewing point was a little dicey and off road as I depended on google Amma but the return journey was perfect.

This spot has become a tourist spot with a lot of Indian and foreign tourists visiting this viewing point where you can see both the sea and the port.

[handsofsteel]

The Colombo Port, in its present form, has been built entirely by the Chinese - overt and covert. Their investment in the Colombo Port alone is over 400million $. They also have a BOT license for this Port (In Colombo, I was told its for 99 years). Fair enough to assume they they will be watching this space closely and offer equal incentives/ coercion to ensure continued patronage from the shipping companies. It doesn't make financial sense to have two transshipment ports in such close proximity so this is bound to raise eyebrows. Further, with another 82000 Crore International Container Transshipment Terminal Project sanctioned in the Nicobar Islands, things are bound to heat up.

Interesting times ahead.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by maddy42

This thread and the news made me visit this port in Trivandrum while on a road trip.

It's amazing at night as well. Was able to see it all it up while my flight was making it's approach to land at Trivandrum airport.

Grand spectacle.

[ask_017]

According to press reports, the largest ship ever to dock in an Indian port, has arrived at Vizhinjam.

https://www.manoramaonline.com/news/...iner-ship.html

Article is in Malayalam.

[ashkamath]

Originally Posted by ask_017

According to press reports, the largest ship ever to dock in an Indian port, has arrived at Vizhinjam.

Article is in Malayalam.

I could just understand that the vessel was a 24116 TEU ultra large container vessel (could only decipher 24116 number in the Malayalam paper) and was able to get the English version here.

The present vessel arrived is 366 Mtr long MSC KAYLEY, a 15294 TEU vessel with 16.5 Mtr draft.

However it will be dwarfed by the colossal Ultra large container vessel, 400 Mtr long MSC CLAUDE GIRADET with 24116 TEU capacity, that's arriving either today 13th or tomorrow, 14th September at Vizhinjam.

https://swarajyamag.com/infrastructu...rdet-to-follow

[ask_017]

Originally Posted by ashkamath

However it will be dwarfed by the colossal Ultra large container vessel, 400 Mtr long MSC CLAUDE GIRADET with 24116 TEU capacity, that's arriving either today 13th or tomorrow, 14th September at Vizhinjam.
[/url]

Actually this one is in fact MSC Claude Girardet.

[ashkamath]

Originally Posted by ask_017

Actually this one is in fact MSC Claude Girardet.

Ah. That makes sense. I had been referring to old news then.

Today is Friday,13th and was the ETA of this vessel. Good to hear that one of the largest container vessel has berthed in an Indian port.