| VCTL has already developed a private container handling facility at Visakhapatnam port with an investment of around Rs 100 crore. |
| "During the year ended March 31, 2004, we handled 20,711 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), out of which the Vizag port handled 3,222 TEUs in the first quarter. In the current fiscal, we expect to handle 60,000 TEUs. At present, VCTL's total container handling capacity is 1,00,000 TEUs per annum," D Sugantharaj, chief operating officer of VCTL, told Business Standard. |
| Recently, for the first time, container liners berthed at the Visakhapatnam port. Four container liner companies "� Shipping Corporation of India, K-Line, Donganama, and PIL "� have started bringing main line container vessels to the Visakhapatnam port by forming a consortium called Indfex-II. |
| According to Indfex-II projections, one main liner will touch the port every week. |
| Also, some feeder container vessels from Kolkata port, Haldia port and Paradip port will berth at the Vizag port to feed the main liner vessels, which will then directly leave for Hong Kong and China, Sugantharaj said. |
| "In the Vizag port, we have priority berthing facility for container vessels and the tariff is also very competitive. The container loading and unloading rate is high because of the modern handling equipment. Also, some new container freight stations are coming up at Vizag. This terminal is poised to develop into a major gateway port on the east coast of India. With all these developments, our container traffic is expected to cross 60,000 TEUs this fiscal," he added. |
| "By 2006-07, our target is to touch the one-lakhTEU mark in the Vizag port. After that, our next target will be to touch the three-lakhTEU mark. For this, we plan to spend another Rs 100 crore in the second phase development of the VCTL project," Sugantharaj said. |
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