Indian Shipping Board member criticises transshipment plans

A member of India’s advisory board on shipping has criticised government plans to set up a transhipment terminal in Kovalam.

Joe D’Cruz wrote to India’s shipping minister to say that the transhipment terminal model was now outdated and that, if India had wanted to do transhipment successfully, it should have invested in it 30 years ago.

“For a successful International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT), we need thousands of acres of land, millions of tonnes of cargo and contributing ports. The facilities are not there in Kanniyakumari district and cannot be developed even in future as the entire district is directly or indirectly agro- and fisheries based. There is no space for heavy industrialisation. Moreover, no Indian port, including the Tuticorin port, will be ready to send its import/export containers to Kovalam ICTT just for transhipment purpose,” he said.