Cochin Port Trust Makes a Turn-Around

KOCHI:
Cochin Port Trust has made a turn-around in the financial front by making a net surplus of about Rs.4 crore overcoming the loss registered continuously during last 10 years.
The Port achieved an all-time high cargo throughput of 29.14 million metric tonnes for the year 2017-18 recording an impressive growth of 16.51% over 2016-17. Incidentally, the cargo growth rate is the highest amongst all the Major Ports of India. Container traffic grew by 13% during the same period.
Physical Performance
i. During 2017-18 the Port handled a Total traffic of 29.14 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) as against 25.01 MMT during 2016-17 registering a growth of 16.51 %.
ii. The Total no. of Containers handled during 2017-18 is 5.55 lakhs TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) and during 2016-17 is 4.91 lakhs TEUs registering a growth of 13%.
iii. Total POL (Petrol, Oil & Lubricants) handling improved from 15.79 MMT during 2016-17 to 18.66 MMT during 2017-18 registering a growth rate of 18.17%.
iv. Cochin is the most preferred cruise destination port in India with 42 Cruise vessels called at the Port during 2017-18.
v. Cochin Port handled Coastal Steel Cargo of Rastriya Ispat Nigam Ltd. (RINL), Vishakapatnam by Coastal Shipping with effect from October 2017.
vi. The Port could attract river sand & Illmenite sand vessels during the current year and handled 1.33 lakhs & 0.37 lakhs respectively during 2017-2018.
vii. Introduction of Incentive/Penalty Scheme under Berthing Policy of Govt. of India w.e.f. 04/06/2017 has helped to achieve higher productivity in handling POL & Cement.
viii. Cochin Port Trust and Indian Navy entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for utilising the Q2-Q3 berths at Mattacherry Wharf of Cochin Port for berthing Indian Navy ships. The MoU was signed on 5/1/2018. As per the MoU, Cochin Port’s Q2 and Q3 berths at Mattacherry Wharf, totaling 228m of quay length, is being handed over to Indian Navy for 5 years for berthing their ships.
Projects
1. Sagarmala Projects
i. Multi User liquid Terminal: – MULT is being developed jointly with IOC with a capacity of 4.10 MMTPA at Puthuvypeen. Estimated cost of the project is Rs.240cr. Expected Completion of the Project May 2018 (excluding dredging).
ii. Barge Jetty: for handling of Bunkers is being taken up at a cost of Rs. 34.57cr. along with Multi User Liquid Terminal. All marine civil works of Barge Jetty completed.
iii. Construction of Subway & ROB: – Port has taken up conversion of 2 nd GIDA bridge as an ROB and construction for a Subway in front of exit gate of ICTT to decongest the area at a cost of Rs.60 cr. The work of Subway has been completed on 31.03.2017 and facility handed over to NHAI and opened to traffic on 17.03.2018. The work of ROB will be completed by April, 2018.
iv. Refurbishment of Coastal Liquid berth: – The work was awarded to M/s. RDS Projects Limited, Panampilly Nagar, Kochi for an amount of Rs. 22.45 crores on 10.8.2015 .Port has completed refurbishment of Cochin Oil Terminal on 25.12.2016 and Refurbishment of North Tanker berth on 13.01.2018. These were upgraded under Sagarmala and by BPCL respectively.
 Swachh Bharat Projects
i. Repairing and Painting of RNAS Quarters:- Work has been taken up at an estimated cost of Rs. 229.38 lakhs and completed on 25/01/2018.
ii. Painting of Port Buildings and Hospital:- Work has been taken up at an estimated cost of Rs.56.67 lakhs. Work is nearing completion.
iii. Exterior painting of Office Buildings at North End: The work has been taken up at an estimated cost of Rs.22.21 lakhs and is in progress.
Other Projects
i. Construction of walkway opposite to IMU for a length of 1.5 km using funds of Ministry of Tourism: Estimated cost is 5.78 crore. 98% of work completed.
ii. Refurbishment of South Tanker Berth for laying Heat Traced pipe line for BPCL-KR at Cochin Port (With grant from BPCL-KR): The work order for the Refurbishment of STB issued to M/s Geo Tech- Threekay Joint Venture for Rs. 17,87,31,847/- on 07-02- 2018. The site for the work has been taken over on 13-02- 2018.
Mobilization and dismantling works are in progress.
iii. International Ship Repair Facility (ISRF): The Port has awarded a project to Cochin shipyard for setting up an International Ship Repair facility on the western side of W.Island along the Mattancherry channel. Hon’ble Union Minister of Shipping, Nitin Gadkari had laid foundation stone for the ISRF project on 17/11/2017.
iv. Strengthening of Sub-transmission and Power Distribution System under Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) of Govt. of India: LOI issued on 15/03/2018. Expected date of completion of project is 30/11/2018.
v. Construction of Cement bagging facility of Penna Cements is nearing completion. This is fourth such facility in Cochin Port.
Future Project
Cochin Port proposes to provide International Cruise Terminal facilities inside Ernakulam Wharf area to cater to the cruise passengers with the functional and service requirements as per the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) issued by Ministry of Tourism. The project consists of Construction of an International Cruise Terminal building of approximate area 2253 m 2 with connected facilities.
NIT for a consolidated tender for Civil, Electrical and certain ELV works with estimated cost of Rs. 22.34 crores published on 9th Feb. 2018 with due date of tender submission on 12/03/2018. Technical Bids have been opened and are under evaluation. Work is expected to be awarded by May 2018.
Ease of Doing Business
DPD Direct Port Delivery and Direct Port entry of containers is facilitated.
RFID System Cochin Port and International Container Transhipment Terminal have RFID systems in place.
E-Delivery Order Software for E-delivery ready and made mandatory from 02.04.2018. This eliminates human intervention and time.
Installation of Drive- through Container Scanners
Port allotted land to Customs on 30.06.2015. It is expected that the installation of the scanners by Customs Dept. will be completed by April 2018.
Online Berth Allotment Allocation of berths for ships is made fully online.
Cruise Operations Made Easy
Trade friendly Standard Operating Procedures in place
State-of- the-art Cruise Terminal is being developed at Ernakulam Wharf. Estimated cost is Rs.25cr.
Introduced E-visa facility for easy emigration of passengers.