A dream to reality, the country’s first mother port will be showcased in Vizhinjam (south Kerala) next year. Conceived three decades ago, the port with 20-metre natural depth and 12 nautical miles away from the international ship channel, is expected to be commissioned in October 2023.

Kerala ports minister Ahammad Devarkoil who visited the site last week said work is in full swing and the project will keep its date. “The project will change the face of south India. We have cleared all the bottlenecks, including shortage of granite stones,” he said.

As of now, the country is dependent heavily on Colombo, Singapore and Dubai mother ports for transhipment of heavy cargos incurring additional cost and time , but once Vizhinjam, 16 km south of state capital, is commissioned it will bridge the gap. “Once it is fully functional, the largest mother ship of the world can be anchored here easily,” said a port official, on anonymity, adding five mother ships can be berthed on the port at one time.

“It will be a milestone in the maritime history of the country. The country will save crores of rupees in foreign exchange. And it will be cost-effective and time efficient for both, importers and exporters. We are at the gateway to the dream,” said Adani Vizhinjam Port Limited CEO Rajesh Jha. Exporters and importers can move their cargo without additional cost and speed and it will be a big boost to the manufacturing sector in the country, he said.

He said another advantage of the Vizhinjam port is it needs minimum dredging as there is hardly any littoral movement (the drift refers to movement of entrained sand grains in the direction of the longshore current) along the coast to deposit sediments. In major ports, continuous dredging involves a lot of expenditure.

Source: TREND News Agency