VCTL's bid to woo foreign carriers to VPT pays off

Ever since the container berth at the Visakhapatnam Port (VPT) was taken over by Visakha Container Terminal Limited (VCTL) on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis, the port has been witnessing an influx of new and foreign container carriers and feeder operators.

Some container liner operators went a bit further by setting up their offices at Visakhapatnam.

VCTL, a special purpose vehicle jointly promoted by Dubai Ports International and United Liner Agencies, has invested around Rs 100 crore on the latest container handling equipment, and is operating the state-of-the-art container terminal on BOT basis at the port.

Apart from infusing huge investments into the terminal, it has also launched a campaign to promote the terminal, because of which several new container feeder operators started berthing their vessels at the Vizag Port.

At present, 22 container feeder operators are sending their container ships to the port. Hanjin Shipping, K-Line, Maxicon Container Liners, KMTC and Samudera started sending their container vessels to the port for the first time from November. With the influx of the new feeder liners, the container traffic too is increasing gradually at the port.

VCTL, which started its operations from June-end last year, handled 3,222 TEUs during the first quarter of the current fiscal. In the second quarter, it handled 5,024 TEUs, and in the third quarter it handled 5586 TEUs.

"We can handle not less than 7,500 TEUs in the last quarter of the current fiscal. With the new liners started coming to the Vizag Port, we are confident of handling more than 30,000 TEUs in the port," said D Sugantharaj, the chief operating officer of VCTL.

"At present, only container feeder liners are touching the Visakhapatnam Port. As the Vizag port has facilities to anchor the main liners also, we are trying to attract main liners to the port," he added.