First main line container vessel calls at Mangalore port

Main line container vessels have started calling at New Mangalore Port (NMP). 

The first main line container vessel arrived on Sunday from the east African port, Matwara, and unloaded about 327 boxes of cashew imported by the processing units in coastal and interior Karnataka.

“The arrival of the first main line container vessel heralds a new chapter in the maritime business of the state. The advantage of the vessel directly calling at the port takes lesser transit time and lesser handling cost. Earlier, vessels from Africa used to call at the port via Colombo and used to take almost 21 days.  But now,  it just takes seven days. It helps both exporters and importers,” said Tamilvanan, chairman, NMP 

While going back, these vessels will call at different ports in south eastern countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, and south China. “This will open up new markets for exporters,” said Gopalakrishnan, traffic manger, NMP.

The port handled a record container traffic of 40,158 TEUs during 2010-11 as against 31,456  TEUs during the corresponding period in previous year, registering a growth of 27.66%. “With the main line operators calling at NMP, the container traffic may go up by  25% in the next fiscal,” said Tamilvanan.