Tuticorin Port handles longest windmill blades ever manufactured in India

September 23, 2020: V.O. Chidambaranar Port, Tuticorin on Monday handled wind blades of length 74.90 metres, the longest of its kind handled through Indian ports.

The Panama flagged vessel ‘M.V. Ginkgo Arrow’ was berthed on September 15, 2020, and loaded the 50 windmill towers and 33 windmill blades. The loading of the 74.90-metre long wind blades were carried out using ship’s hydraulic cranes caring to the safety of the cargo and cargo handling workers. The vessel completed loading and sailed from the port on September 21 to the Port of New Orleans, USA.

The shipper was Vestas Wind System while DSV Air & Sea was the logistics partner. The stevedore and ship agent for the above vessel was Pearl Shipping Agencies. The windmill blades and towers were transported by Gangothri freight carriers, using specialized wind blade and tower transportation trucks from Oragadam, Chennai to Tuticorin.

VOC Port is witnessing a surge in the handling of wind blades and wind blade towers. The port has handled 881 wind blades and 397 wind blade towers during this financial year up to September 21. During the last financial year, the Port had handled 1667 wind blades and 648 wind blade towers.

The Port handled wind blades of length 74.90 metres, the longest of its kind handled through Indian Ports@shipmin_india , @PIB_India @PIB_ShipMin @pibchennai @DSV_AS, @Vestas pic.twitter.com/4k0YWMcBMu

— VOC PORT TRUST, Tuticorin (@vocporttrust) September 23, 2020

T.K. Ramachandran, IAS, chairman, V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust, said, “In recent years, there has been a significant increase in wind power generation capacity in India and the wind energy equipment supply chain is already localised in India to a great extent and major components being imported are limited to castings and power electronics."

"The port is committed to ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative of the Government of India and has invited Expression of Interest (EOI) for the port’s ‘Tuticorin SPEEDZ’ (Smart Port Employment & Economic Development Zone), a Sagarmala initiative for providing an integrated Industrial Park with around 1680 acres of land from all manufacturing sectors, particularly the wind blade manufacturing companies, for starting Industries at ‘Tuticorin SPEEDZ’. This would be a win-win proposition considering the mature industrial climate & culture, least transportation cost for manufactured products and global reach provided by the VOC Port,” he continued.