Vizhinjam Will Make a Good Port : Daily Current Affairs

Date: 31/12/2022

Relevance: GS-3: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc. Investment models.

Key Phrases: Vizhinjam, Controversies Project, Fisherfolk, Transhipment, Gateway Ports, Greenfield, Container, Strategic, Maritime Cargo.

Context:

The ₹75 billion Vizhinjam port project has been in controversies ever since the project was conceived almost 30 years ago. However, after the intervention of intellectuals, prominent personalities, and the government of Kerala, the work on this prestigious project has resumed.
Vizhinjam is a coastal town in the Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) District of Kerala state. Vizhinjam, ‘Port of the Future’ is located on the west coast of India and has a number of inherent strengths as a port.

Global Scenario:

A number of port projects for deepening the approach channels of major seaports in the US and Europe have been delayed for decades due to protests by the local population.
Thus, the deepest ports in the world are not in the US or Europe but in Asia.
Among the top 30 container ports, 21 ports are in Asia and only three from the US and six from Europe.
Asia remained the world’s leading maritime cargo handling centre in 2021 accounting for 42 per cent of exports and 64 per cent of imports (UNCTAD review of Maritime Transport -2022).

Strategic Advantages of Vizhinjam Port:

Vizhinjam situated about 20 km south of Thiruvananthapuram has a natural water depth of about 20 m within about 3 km from the shore.
Negligible littoral drift necessitating minimal maintenance dredging.
Proximity to the international shipping route connecting the Persian Gulf, the Far East and Europe with a minimum diversion of about 20 nautical miles from the international shipping route.
- The depths at ports in New York, Southampton, Singapore, Dubai, Colombo, Hong Kong is 15 meters and requires dredging.
It is a greenfield site that can be designed and developed, with no legacy of the past.
Being a non-major port it has autonomy in the fixation of port tariff. With the State government being the controlling authority, decisions could be taken at the state level.
The qualified IT personnel of Kerala could provide IT backup and innovative operating and support systems.
The trend of building bigger and larger ships is likely to remain strong and as ships become bigger in size and larger in capacity they need deeper ports and approach channels.
Transhipment Ports:
- Transhipment port is defined as one where the transfer of cargo takes place from one ship to another.
- Major transshipment ports in the world are Singapore, Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia, Salalah in Oman, Colombo in Sri Lanka and Dubai in the UAE.
Gateway Ports:
- A gateway port is one which depends largely on its export/import cargo originating from its primary, secondary or tertiary hinterland.
- Major gateway ports in the world are Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Antwerp in Belgium, Hamburg in Germany, New York in the US, Tokyo in Japan, and JN Port in New Mumbai.

Do you know?

There are 12 major ports and 200 non-major ports (minor ports) in the country.
While the Major Ports are under the administrative control of Ministry of Shipping, the non-major ports are under the jurisdiction of respective State Maritime Boards/ State Governments. All the 12 Major ports are functional.
Out of the 200 non-major ports, around 65 ports are handling cargo and the others are “Port Limits” where no cargo is handled and these are used by fishing vessels and by small ferries to carry passengers across the creeks etc.

Are there prospects for two container transshipment ports to co-exist when the distance between them is about 180 nautical miles only?

Questions about the relevance of Vizhinjam have been raised with respect to Vallarpadam in Tamil Nadu on the eastern coast.
Port Klang and Port of Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia co-exist within a distance of about 150 nautical miles.
Jebel Ali and Abu Dhabi in the UAE remain within 81 nautical miles.
Tacoma and Seattle in the US remain within 33 nautical miles.

Conclusion:

Vallarpadam and Vizhinjam can coexist in harmony in their respective segments i.e. Vallarpadam can accommodate container ships up to 10,000 TEU capacity while Vizhinjam can accommodate larger and ultra large container ships with capacity ranging from 10,000 to 25,000 TEUs.
Colombo, the closest competitor to Vizhinjam handled 7.2 million TEUs in 2021; 70 per cent of its container traffic is contributed by the Indian sub-continent.
The purpose of developing Vizhinjam is to reduce trans-shipment of Indian cargo at foreign ports as it results in $80-100 per TEU higher cost to Indian EXIM clients. This makes Vizhinjam a worthwhile proposition.

Source: Business Line

Mains Question:

Q. Vizhinjam port can provide strategic advantage to India in Indian Ocean Region. Comment. (150 words).