New Mangalore Port Trust on Tuesday achieved a milestone when it handled the largest parcel-size container vessel, SSL Brahmaputra-V.084, calling on the port. It was also the largest in terms of the number of containers handled at the port.
A release from the port here said the 260 m long and 32.35 m wide vessel with a dead weight tonnage of 50,900 tonnes, arrived at NMPT with 1,142 boxes or 1,521 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent) of containers. The vessel has a draught of 11.7 m. It carried 25,864 tonnes of raw cashew nuts and had a scheduled export plan of 300 TEUs. Shreyas Shipping is the vessel operator and Amogha Shipping, Mangaluru, represented it locally.
NMPT said that container traffic at the port has steadily increased from less than 2,000 TEUs handled in 2000 to 1.5 lakh TEUS handled in 2020-21. So far, containers have been handled at various general cargo berths of the port. Overseeing the increase in container handling, the port has awarded the work of mechanisation of container handling at an exclusively deep draft berth (No 14) to Mangalore Container Terminal Pvt. Ltd. (JSW) on public-private partnership model which is expected to foster growth of container traffic at the port in the coming years.
Port Trust Chairman A.V. Ramana expressed happiness over the achievement. The port has taken up many cargo-friendly initiatives, including online gate admittance, improved storage facilities, better service and cost-effective measures.
Source : The Hindu
