This morning, the world’s biggest container line i.e. M/s Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) commenced the Paradip shuttle service under SE feeder corridor. MV MSC Tiger F made its maiden call at PICT terminal. It has LOA of 154.51 Meter and Beam of 25.21 Meter. It will be a regular & seamless call for catering EXIM cargo through port of Paradip as per planned 3 calls in a month through Paradip – Colombo route.
The Ship embarked on its journey to Colombo Port with export Aluminum Cargo of 90 TEU on account of M/s Vedanta and 36 TEU on account of M/s Jindal Stainless Limited.
Gracing the occasion, P.L. Haranadh, Chairman, PPA stated, “It is a very special occasion for Paradip Port, as traditionally Paradip Port has been concentrating on Iron Ore, Coal and Crude Oil for the last 57 years since its traffic operation began in 1967. Our approach was only towards improving the coaL, iron ore & crude oil traffic. It is time now to diversify the cargo basket, as An estimated 2 lakh TEU cargo is available in the hinterland of the Paradip Port. The combined efforts of PPA & Govt. of Odisha has yielded successful results in attracting reputed container liners to PPA. Now, we have a world class terminal here at PICT which is no less than any other container terminal of the country and it has a 14.5mtr draft and state of the art machinery to handle container traffic and it has 5 MMT capacity. It is totally under utilized.
The Port is offering unparalleled discount of 75% in vessel related charges to interested container liners and no container scanning charges to boost container cargo. Henceforth, prospective clients from state of Odisha will be no more dependent on ports outside the state.”
Shri Saswat Mishra, Principal Secretary, MSME Department, GoO said, “This is the momentous occasion, for which the state has been waiting for decades. We have lot of cargo here with Odisha origin. In the line of MSC, soon another VGF agreement with container line M/s RCL for Paradip-Port Klang in Malaysia operation will be signed by the state govt. With these two routes opening up, I think that the much needed infrastructure and logistics support for Odisha industries will open up.”
Shri Nilabhra Dasgupta, Dy. Chairman, PPA said that with the cooperation of the major shipping lines, the days are not far, when PPA will be positioning as one of the most modern and most competitive container Ports.
Shri G. Edison, T.M, PPA, Capt. A.C. Sahoo, Dy. Conservator, Shri A K. Bose, Advisor, Traffic, Shri Rajesh Naik, PICT Terminal Head were present during the flagging off Ceremony. It may be noted that in Industry first scheme of things, Odisha Govt will pay $200 per TEU as viability gap funding (VGF) if the EXIM traffic volumes during a Ship call at Paradip Port falls below the minimum guaranteed level of 250 TEUs.
