ENS

Mangalore, Jan 26:  Container traffic in the New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) received a further thrust with the first main line container vessel scheduled for arrival next week.

M V Kota Handal, the first main line container vessel is expected to berth at the New Mangalore port on January 29. The vessel under the agency of the Sea Master Shipping and Logistics Private Limited with a capacity of 594 TEUs and 200 reefer plug points will arrive at the NMPT from East Africa with 123 TEUs of raw cashew.

The transit period for the vessel sailing from East Africa to Mangalore is seven days and eight days for Singapore which is next port call for the vessel. The first main container line will help raw cashew importers and reefer cargo exporters with reduced transit period and less ocean freight.

M V Kinship Bungar had already procured 107 boxes of raw cashew from East Africa deployed by Ms MIL. The launch of two more new feeder lines, Seaways Shipping and Relay Shipping in addition to BTL had resulted in more number of schedules for speedy movement of containers. Following increased movement of cargo, NMPT is poised for a big leap in cargo handling.

In order to cope with increased flow of traffic, NMPT has begun to upgrade its existing infrastructure. The first phase of concretisation of roads within port had been completed and inaugurated by NMPT chairman N Tamilvanan on Wednesday. The Chairman also inaugurated a newly procured 45 T capacity reach stacker for handling containers.

Besides, the work on hardening and extension of 40,000 sq mts of paved container stackyard with a capacity to stack 2,500 TEUs was underway.

Meanwhile, the availability of reefer plug points had been increased to 84 and a new railway line had been commissioned inside the port for smooth transfer of bulk cargo. There were plans to add one more line soon in the marshalling yard.