Coastal Steel Consignment of RINL Arrives at Cochin Port

KOCHI:
Government of India has embarked ambitious development projects based on Sea ports. Coastal shipping is one among the many such initiatives under the Sagarmala, the flag ship development project of Ministry of Shipping. As a beginning of this in Cochin, the first coastal movement by Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), happened on November 12, 2017.
M.V Sabarimalai, the coastal cargo vessel carrying 5000 Tonnes of steel products consignment of RINL, arrived at Cochin yesterday evening from Visakhapatnam. This was the first steel consignment of RINL moved by coastal route from their plant at Visakhapatnam. So long they were bringing their consignment for distribution in and around Kerala by rail to their stock yard.
On arrival, the Captain of the ship was welcomed by Traffic Manager in presence of the officials of the Port, RINL Cochin, the Agents Shreyas Shipping, and the Stevedore. The arrival of the first consignment at Cochin emphasized the effort of the marketing team of the Port, which was having discussion with the RINL authorities for more than a year for bringing this consignment to Cochin.
It may be mentioned there that on 31st October, 2017 Minister of Shipping and Minister of Steel jointly flagged off the first coastal consignment of Visakhapatnam Steel plant of RINL at Visakhapatnam Port. The ship sailed from Visakhapatnam Port on 8 th November, 2017 to reach Cochin. It is expected that coastal shipping will play a key role in the growth of steel sector in the county as logistics cost will be less giving a competitive advantage for the steel industry in the county.
As per the current plans, around 10,000 Tonnes of steel consignment of RINL is expected every month and other companies like SAIL and JINDAL are expected to start such services in near future, giving additional cargo volume to the port.