First mothership, San Fernando of Maersk shipping company, reached Vizhinjam International Seaport on Thursday. Kerala ports minister V N Vasavan and ports officials received the ship. Formal reception to be given on Friday. The ship with around 2,000 containers arrived from Xiamen port in China
Credit: I&PRD, Govt of Kerala
Thiruvananthapuram: A long-pending dream of Kerala materialised on Thursday as a mothership berthed at the Vizhinjam International Seaport, the first deep-water container transhipment port of India.
San Fernando, a vessel owned by the second-largest shipping firm Maersk, reached with around 2,000 containers by Thursday morning. A formal reception for the maiden mothership will be given on Friday.
The ship that came from Xiamen port in China was given a water salute on reaching the Vizhinjam port. Offloading of containers will begin on Thursday itself.
Even as the port has started functioning only on a trial basis, more container ships are expected to reach the port in the coming days also for container transhipment. The formal commissioning of the port will take place by September.
The Vizhinjam International Seaport is considered a game changer for Kerala's development. It has been a long pending dream of Kerala to have the port, considering key advantages like proximity to an international shipping channel by around 10 nautical miles and the natural depth of the sea off Vizhinjam port, which makes it ideal for motherships.
Adani Port was selected to develop the port in a public-private partnership model through a global tendering process. The formal agreement was signed in August 2015. The first phase has been completed at a cost of around Rs 7,700 crore. The container handling capacity is one million TEU per annum.
The port will be further expanded in three more phases and the total handling capacity will reach three million TEU. The port is considered as an all-weather port that could accommodate new generation vessels of capacity up to 18,000 TEU.