Nitin Gadkari reviews performance of Cochin Port and Cochin Shipyard Ltd.

Sept 28, 2016: During his recent visit to Kerala, Minister for Road, Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari, reviewed the performance and future expansion plans of Cochin Port and Cochin Shipyard Ltd.

The review of the functioning of Cochin Port was done for better understanding of the financial health of Cochin Port and improving it by enhancing cargo and reducing costs.

Projects for expansion of handling crude oil and refined petroleum products were reviewed. The Minister encouraged Cochin Port to identify new streams of cargo such as cargo from hinterland in Tamil Nadu which has a shorter distance to Cochin Port than to other ports and other ways like developing coastal traffic comprising automobiles through ro-ro vessels, cement and construction material.

He also asked to consider the movement of approximately 35 MT of food grain into Kerala from other States, potential movement of such food grains through coastal shipping and creating dedicated food grain handling facility including modern storage systems in the form of silos.

Gadkari also highlighted the importance of generating additional resources of revenue by exploring options like use of dredged material to generate sand for construction purpose; improving cruise tourism facility to increase number of cruise vessels handled from the existing level of 35-45 vessels per year; cryogenic warehouse facilities using low cost of coolant available from the LNG facility at the Port; and use of passenger terminal and associated land for conference and other incidental purposes, when not used for passenger or cruise handling.

Plans of the Port to develop land of 181 acre to set up logistic park, warehousing zone, hospitality industry etc. were also discussed. Gadkari also reviewed the functioning and expansion plans of Cochin Shipyard Ltd. The dry dock project of Rs.1800 crore and international ship repair facility of Rs.950 crore are major infrastructure improvements to the shipyard which will increase the revenues of Cochin Shipyard while also creating employment opportunities for the youth of the region.

The minister emphasized over the potential of developing ship repair facilities along the coastline particularly in Goa, Kandla and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. He also suggested that this could be done in partnership with ship repair yards being run by the private sector, to develop capacities and creating a win-win situation.