MUMBAI : Visakha Container Terminal (VCT) set up under the ageis of Visakhapatnam Port, along with JM Baxi Group organized a trade meet at Grand Hyatt, Mumbai on April 8, 2015.

 

Mr M T Krishna Babu, IAS, Chairman, Visakhapatnam Port, Mr Vir K Kotak, Director, Visakha Container Terminal and Jt. Managing Director, J M Baxi Group of Companies and Mr Sushil Mulchandani, Chief Operating Officer, Visakha Container Terminal addressed the trade meet.

 

Mr. Dhruv Kotak, Joint Managing Director, J M BAXI Group, Mr Arun Kumar Gupta, CMD, SCI, all Major Shipping Lines and other industry stalwarts from the trade attended the meet.

 

In his welcome address, Mr Sushil Mulchandani highlighted the developments happening in and around the port city through a presentation.

 

He pointed Visakhapatnam Port is among the largest ports of India and the only Major Port of Andhra Pradesh. It is India's second largest port by volume of cargo handled. Being strategically located in between Kolkatta and Chennai and on same latitude as Mumbai it is known as the Mumbai on the East Coast of India.

 

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu virtually visits Vizag every month and is keen on developing the port city with a new vision. Visakhapatnam was discussed for being developed as 'smart city' with American help, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's US visit, added Mr Sushil Mulchandani.

 

Presently Visakhapatnam has already five Container Freight Stations in the port region operating successfully. It is also expected that the Multi Modal Logistic Parks, the existing ones as well the new ones would play a key role in the economic development of the region, that is a good sign for logistic trade. Industralization and capacity upgradation in the hinterland estimated to generate additional capacity of 0.2  million TEUs.

 

Mr Sushil Mulchandani invited the shipping lines to visit Visakhapatnam and understand the future potential of the vast hinterland it has.

 

Mr Vir K Kotak, Director in his key note address applauded the efforts taken by the Mr Krishna Babu, Visakhapatnam Port Chairman and appreciated that this is the first time ever in this part of the World, where a Port Chairman has come all the way to meet the stakeholders and showcase the facilities of the port.

 

He stressed that JM Baxi Group is proud to be associated with such a landlord port which focuses only on development. He also unveiled the group's ambitious plans of expansion in the East Coast of India. With a new Government at the helm, there is more focus on the development of port city and in order to develop Visakhapatnam as the logistics hub, the government is focusing on the improvisation of rail and road connectivity, developing industrial corridors and inland waterways.

 

Mr Krishna Babu stressed on the Port Led Development in Andhra Pradesh and Visakhapatnam will be the first city to be taken up for development as a smart city.

 

He mentioned about the State Government's ambitious plans to develop Andhra Pradesh and Visakhapatnam in particular for the various attributes it has."The Government is pitching for the growth prospects of Andhra Pradesh, which envisages development and modernisation of all existing seaports including Vizag Port  one of the biggest in the country”.

 

Visakhapatnam has great potential to transform into a financial, IT powerhouse and alogistics hub. The Sagarmala project and Vizag-Chennai Industrial Corridor together can go a long way in boosting AP's manufacturing sector.

 

He announced that Visakhapatnam would now have an exclusive zone for Railways which would eliminate all the bottlenecks in the last mile connectivity and facilitate the movement of container trains connecting NCR and Vizag. With the second longest coastline in the country, Visakhapatnam on the East Coast of India would become the ideal gateway and the Transhipment hub, he added.

 

He also mentioned that the Prime Minister's Office is relentlessly working on Cabotage relaxation for Visakhapatnam Port in particular.

 

Considering all this potential, he announced that Visakhapatnam Port is extending 50 per cent concession on vessel related charges w.e.f February 10, 2015 for a period of six months to encourage the shipping lines to commence services offering direct connectivity from Vizag to new ports of call. He said the same would be reviewed after six months and need case look at possible extension too.

 

VCIC, proposed on the lines of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor project, is envisaged to encompass several National Manufacturing Investment Zones, multi-product and product-specific SEZs and clusters. Given all these developments in the hinterland, Visakha Container Terminal has been working relentlessly to attract more services connecting Vizag to global destinations.