To ensure transportation of cement through coastal shipping, the fourth cement terminal started operations at Cochin Port Wednesday, the government said.
"The arrival of first vessel 'Penna Suraksha' carrying 25,000 tonnes of cement from Krishnapatnam marks the beginning of operations of the 4th cement terminal at Cochin Port," the Ministry of Shipping said in a statement.
This modal shift in transport of cement from road/rail to sea is another step towards promoting coastal shipping as cost-effective and environment-friendly means of transportation as envisaged under the Sagarmala programme of the Ministry of Shipping, the statement said.
Cement being a high-volume low-value product, lower-cost sea transport is very important as a game changer in logistics, it added.
"With huge destruction that has occurred in the recent floods, the requirement of cement in re-building the state of Kerala is expected to increase.
"Coastal shipping of building material like cement is economic and will help rebuild Kerala after recent floods in a cost effective manner with lower logistic costs," the statement said.
More From This Section
Presently, three cement terminals of Ambuja, UltraTech and Zuari are in operation at the port and handle 7,83,000 tonnes of cement annually.
The bagging terminal of Penna Cement Ltd is the fourth such terminal in Cochin Port. The terminal has been set up in 1.14 hectare of land leased by Cochin Port Trust and is expected to handle 3 lakh tonnes of cement annually.
The port is expected to handle 1.5 million metric tonnes of cement by 2020. Malabar Cements, a Government of Kerala company, has also been allotted land at Cochin Port for setting up a bagging terminal.