MEGAPROJECT: Vizhinjam Container Transshipment Terminal | Under Development

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Originally Posted by BabuCS

It seems that all these truck traffic (both from NH Bypass and the proposed ring road) will converge at Kazhakootam and into the NH47. Now more than 60% of the accidents reported on the NH 47 during last one year (in Kollam-TVM sector) involved trucks and it will indeed be a very scary situation once the port becomes operational. Thus GoK should be planning very carefully to avoid this situation. A dedicated road for truck traffic may be one option by which one can effectively control their movement by strict traffic rules.

If you see other growing metros in India, the trend is to divert the truck and container traffic through outer ring roads thereby preventing the huge trucks from entering the city limits. Our bypass road stretch from Thiruvallam to Kazhakootam passes very much through the city limits and hence best if restricted to passenger vehicles & light freight traffic. The new ring road proposed by TRIDA may be sufficently widened and strengthened to allow such container traffic.

[vicks_76]

This is great news.I'm happy for all of you!!!

Originally Posted by Viveks

TRIVANDRUM ROCKZZZ.........

[nishanthnair]

MOU with Lanco within 2 weeks.

Work will start in 3 months(December).

[nishanthnair]

Manorama






Manorama says MOu in 3 months,Kerala Kaumudui says 2 weeks..???

[Rajesh SM]

Originally Posted by nishanthnair

Manorama






Manorama says MOu in 3 months,Kerala Kaumudui says 2 weeks..???

Kaumudi is correct.

[SajithVijayan]

If you read the manorama report there are lines which have been written not with a good intention. Especially in the last paragraphs. They are trying to increase the local protests !!!

[nishanthnair]

Originally Posted by SajithVijayan

If you read the manorama report there are lines which have been written not with a good intention. Especially in the last paragraphs. They are trying to increase the local protests !!!

Yes,Nonorama is very much concerned about land acquisition.

See the latest news link

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The Peninsula
Qatar's English Daily

Key container terminal gets nod

Source ::: The Peninsula/ By John Mary

Thiruvananthapuram • Kerala’s dream project, the Vizhinjam deepwater international container terminal, has got the final go-ahead from the Federal Government.

At a hurriedly-held press conference here today, Ports Minister M Vijayakumar said that the Sipping Ministry and consequently the Federal Cabinet cleared the Rs 5348 bn project, which would come up on 1,088 hectre near Kovalam.

It’s estimated that the terminal would be able to handle nearly 5.3m containers a year in the third phase. The naturally-endowed Vizhinjam is a bustling fishing harbor, near 16 km from Thiruvananthapuram city. It has a depth of 20 meters and is a mere 10 nautical miles from the east-west international shipping channel, the closest for any port in the country.

Some 61 percent of India’s export cargo is transshipped at Colombo, Singapore and Salalah. This brings an additional burden on exports at the rate of Rs8,000 per container.

Link below:

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Dis...0809181530.xml

[scorpiogenius]

Originally Posted by nishanthnair

Yes,Nonorama is very much concerned about land acquisition.

See the latest news link

My opinion is that this land aquisition wont be much of messy affair as happened with TRDCL, Smart City or Technocity. The harbour and the breakwater is rising up in Arabian Sea, where, obviously we neednt go for any eviction. The road and the necessary links, for the machinery to operate to and fro is already present. This Govt land aquisition is for the industrial park and nothing to do with the actual construction of the harbour, to the best of my knowledge.

So the works for the harbour will go on as planned and the Ist phase will be operational in 5 years time. So in 2012-13 the first vessel must disembark in Vizhinjam..
That gives the Govt and the authorities more than enough time to sort out the land issues and finish construction of the rail and road links.. And biggies wont be waiting for the tiresome Govt procedure to get a space for their industries and will have aquired land on their own. We already have confirmations of massive private land deals in the area for Warehouses, logistics and allied industries.

[nishanthnair]

''Lobbies(local,national and International) are behind the protests against the land acquisition of Vizhinjam project''.

More news here

[Gopal.K.Kumar]

Originally Posted by nishanthnair

''Lobbies(local,national and International) are behind the protests against the land acquisition of Vizhinjam project''.

More news here

Is there any project where such allegations and counter allegations have not surfaced?

Any one and every one in Trivandrum ( if not in Kerala) wants this project to be a reality.

Yes, Some pin pricks.

Should vanish in no time.


Gopal

[Ajaypp]

An old article with a pretty insightful analysis of Vizhinjam's potential.

Lanco betting big on cargo trade

Indian ports need to create capacities to handle 30 million twenty-foot equivalent units or TEUs a year by 2015-16 from about 7 million TEUs now

P. Manoj

Bangalore: Hyderabad-based Lanco Group is gambling on India’s need for a big port terminal to handle container cargo by offering to pay the Kerala government Rs115 crore to develop and operate a facility at Vizhinjam, which many view as a “wild bid” for a project with big risks.

According to terms in the tender the government floated, the firm or consortium asking for the least debt support from the state would win the rights to develop and operate the 30-year contract beginning 2011.
Also, the winning bidder is not required to share revenues with the government annually, which the major ports do.

A consortium led by Lanco agreed to pay Rs115 crore over 10 years for the Kerala project. In comparison, a consortium of Maytas Infra Ltd and Nagarjuna Construction Co. Ltd sought a debt support of about Rs153 crore, while the consortium of Gammon Infrastructure Projects Ltd, Videocon Industries Ltd and Sical Logistics Ltd wanted Rs2,200 crore.

“If the project comes up at this price, it will be a boon to the Kerala government,”said an official with one of the bidding firms who did not want to be named.

The port will be more than 16m deep, enabling big ships to load containers arriving from smaller ports, or from smaller feeder ships. Because of depth constraints, large cargo ships cannot use many of India’s ports. A large portion of such cargo, originating from or destined for India, is trans-shipped at Colombo, Singapore or Dubai ports that have the required depths. This typically takes longer and increases freight costs, two key factors that impact India’s competitiveness in global trade.

The country’s exporters and importers pay an extra Rs 1,000 crore a year on trans-shipment, according to Union Shipping Ministry data. “Nobody makes money in trans-shipment. If you can charge $100 for handling a container at Mumbai port, you cannot charge more than $60 for a container at a trans-shipment port. So, there is less margin in the trans-shipment business, which requires huge investments,” the official said.

But the state government is not surprised by the bid. “That’s a perception. Everything is possible when you are bidding. We are not bothered by such perceptions,” said L. Radhakrishnan, Ports Secretary of the Kerala government.

Lanco Infratech Ltd, a unit of Lanco Group, partnered Malaysia’s Pembinaan Redzai Sdn Bhd to emerge as the “best bidder” to develop a Rs 5,340 crore international deep-water seaport and container trans-shipment terminal at Vizhinjam as India scales up its port infrastructure to meet the rising needs of trade in the world’s second fastest growing major economy, as reported in Mint on Thursday.

The financial bids were opened on Wednesday. Pembinaan Redzai owns some 40% stake in Westports Holdings Sdn Bhd, the holding company for Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd that runs one of the two container terminals at Klang port in Malaysia, the world’s 12th biggest container port.

The container cargo handled at Indian ports is growing at 15% a year. At this rate, Indian ports need to create capacities to handle 30 million twenty-foot equivalent units or TEUs a year by 2015-16 from about 7 million TEUs now. A TEU is the standard size of a container and a common measure of capacity in the industry.

Vizhinjam port has a natural depth of 20m that will allow ships with a capacity to load 12,000 TEUs or more to dock easily.

When fully operational, Vizhinjam can handle 5.3 million TEUs a year. The Lanco-led consortium is free to fix its own tariffs for services at Vizhinjam, since it is outside the scope of the tariff regulator for the 12 Union government-owned major ports.

At the end of the contract, Kerala would invite fresh bids to operate the terminal for another 30 years on a revenue sharing basis. Lanco will have the first right of refusal to match the highest quantum of revenue share quoted by a firm during bidding and continue operating the terminal for another 30 years. If it declines to match the highest bid, the contract will go to the firm willing to share the highest proportion of annual revenues with the government, said Radhakrishnan.

Source

[Ajaypp]

Vizhinjam Port Project awarded to LANCO

India Infoline News Service / Mumbai Sep 30, 2008 17:41

The Project was awarded to the Consortium of LANCO and Pembinan Redzai Sdn Bhd of Malaysia after the Government of India formally granted the security clearance to the Consortium earlier this month.

The Government of Kerala (GOK) today issued Letter of Intent (LOI) to the Lanco Group Companies for Vizhinjam International Transhipment Terminal Port Project. The Project was awarded to the Consortium of LANCO and Pembinan Redzai Sdn Bhd of Malaysia after the Government of India formally granted the security clearance to the Consortium earlier this month.

Mr M Vijayakumar, Minister for Ports, Govt of Kerala handed over the LOI to Lanco Group Chairman Mr. Madhusudan Rao. The License Agreement for the Project will be signed in next 4-6 weeks between GOK and the Special Purpose Company (SPC) to be incorporated by Lanco Consortium for the Project. The GOK shall have 24% equity stake in the SPC. The balance equity shall be held by the Consortium members.

The Project involves development of International Container Transhipment Port with an investment of about Rs. 8,300 Cr (USD 2 Billion). The Port was bid out by the GOK in August 2007 on a 30 years’ Concession basis. Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited (VISL) is the sponsor agency of the GOK, which will be providing port connectivity like road, rail link, etc.

The Project is envisaged to be developed in 4 phases with an ultimate capacity of 6.5 Million TEUs (Twenty foot Equivalent Unit). The Port will be equipped with state of the art technology, equipment and highest industry service standards. The Project has distinct advantages of being transhipment hub given its 15-18 meter natural draft and proximity to International sea routes.

LANCO would commence preparation of Detailed Project Report and would also start the process of obtaining Environmental and CRZ clearances for the Project and financial closure, which is expected to take about 12-18 months. The construction activities would start thereafter in order to commence commercial operations of Phase-I by end of 2012. Phase-I will have investment of Rs. 2,800 Cr.

Source

[scorpiogenius]

Heartening to see the public support for the project. Just look at the Lanco Chairman's words...

Courtesy: Manorama


Lanco Chairman confirms that they will deliver the project on time..
In his 15 years at Lanco he has never witnessed such massive public support for any project. Emails of Keralites from USA, Middle East and all over the world poured into him...

SOURCE:

[Kannan46]

Kerala port --Vizhinjam a darling of Indian projects ,casts shadow over Colombo harbour’s future
Source: http://www.nation.lk/2008/10/05/newsfe5.htm

Fresh questions are being raised as to whether Colombo harbour which has been acclaimed as one of the best transshipment hubs in the world, could continue to stake that claim with the advent of another major port in Kerala, India.
If Sri Lanka’s pride has been the port of Colombo, for its efficient and effective operation as a transshipment hub, doubts have now been cast. Soon the Colombo harbour may lose its splendor due to the emergence of other ports in the region.
It is not known how much and to what extent the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) has taken this threat seriously. However, the SLPA, it is learnt has opted to face the challenge.

The Colombo harbour, considered to be a well equipped transshipment port, has highly specialised infrastructure facilities for handling different types of freight, and acts as a switching point for cargo carried by deep sea vessels operating on trans-continental trade routes.

The SLPA has been successful in recording significant revenue from the transshipment business and according to the latest information has handled its highest ever monthly throughput of 185,099 Twenty – Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) last August, against its previous highest monthly throughput of 173, 583 TEUs recorded in last July. According to the SLPA it is a positive change of 11,516 TEUs.

Parallel to these standards, the port of Colombo has also been able to exceed its previous highest ever monthly throughput of 326,124 TEUs recorded in July 2008, up to 340,240 TEUs last August marking the latest highest ever monthly throughput record.

No doubt, these figures are direct indications of growth and stability of a port that has gained international recognition right throughout – an achievement, every Sri Lankan can be proud of.

Saturation point
Be that as it may, every business venture has to end at one point after reaching its saturation point, if no long term plan to expand the same venture is taken up with foresight and vision.
Going by the figures produced by the SLPA the Colombo port has handled 2,455,293 TEUs in 2005 and 3, 079, 086 TEUs in 2006 and 3,381,342 TEUs in 2007.

The capacity of both terminals (Jaya Container Terminal and the South Asian Gateway Terminal) is only 4.1 Million TEUs.
Similarly, India’s growth (which is Sri Lanka’s main catchment area) is around 15 % to 20% per annum. This would mean that by the end of 2008, if an all out effort to attract the Lankan share of the Indian volumes to be transshipped over Colombo is made, then the port of Colombo will be close to its optimum capacity.

Realising this, the SLPA has already put its act together, planning on developing another terminal.
According to SLPA sources the work is functioning smoothly and operations at the new terminal are expected to commence in the first quarter of 2012.

Hidden threat
The SLPA cannot be blind to the hidden threat posed by the fast emerging Vizhinjam port in Kerala, which is set to directly compete with the Colombo port also by the year 2012.
Wide publicity has already been given to the Vizhinjam port in the Indian newspapers and the websites.
Vizhinjam, a sleepy fishing village on the western Kerala coast of India, will soon become an important cog in the country’s transshipment business.

The Vizhinjam port project which failed to obtain approval for nearly two decades, has finally been given sanction by the central government of India, according to Indian State Ports Minister M. Vijayakumar.
The port according to the available information in different websites, will fulfill the need of providing transshipment on the Indian coast, as at present there is no existing Container Transshipment Terminal in India to cater to this need.
Annual container traffic close to four million TEUs is currently originating or destined to India through sea route with CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 14% during the last decade.

About Vizhinjam port
Vizhinjam is an all - weather port and the international shipping line is just 10 nautical mile off its coast.
The Vizhinjam Port is clearly positioning itself to become Colombo’s direct competitor.
The Port’s official website says that, “Vizhinjam has more advantages compared to the Colombo port, and if developed can harbour even Panamax class and futuristic vessels. It also satisfies the physical and hydrographical parameters of modern seaports.”

The Port’s unique selling point is a natural depth of 24 meters which the Indian government claims is by far the best compared to other ports in the world - even those of New York, Southampton, Singapore, Dubai, Colombo, Hong Kong whose depth is only 15 meters.
The proposed Vizhinjam port, which is being marketed as a Green-field project, away from urban/city limit was originally just a fishing village and had to be developed completely from scratch.

The only claim to shipping, this village which lies 15 kms from Thiruvananthapuram and two kms South of Kovalam has, is its historic origins as the capital of Ayvel Kings of the 8th and 9th century.
The new Port, according to the available information from different websites has all the ingredients to turn out as an efficient, modern and highly productive one, and India is inviting international players with experience in developing the world’s high capacity modern ports, to submit their proposals.

The Port is also expected to attract a large share of the container transshipment traffic which is now being diverted to Colombo, Singapore and Dubai. It can also ensure the much needed economic development of India as well as open up immense job opportunities.

The proposed deepwater international container transshipment terminal at Vizhinjam is expected to bring down the total costs of movement of containers to and from foreign destinations, according to the Container Shipment Economics Study.
At present, India’s port capacity (12 major Indian ports) is a meagre 4.61 million TEUs/annum compared with China’s capacity of 50 million TEUs, almost 11 times that of India’s.

Vizhinjam Port alone will have the capacity of 4.10 million TEUs/annum. This matter has to be looked at in the light of India not giving up on developing the Sethusamurdram project. The study, carried out by IL&FS Infrastructure Development Corporation and Hauer Associates, has also found that the Sethusamudram project will promote inter-coastal movements of Indian cargo, enhancing the potential of Vizhinjam as a transshipment hub.

Indian gateway ports
On the other hand, the present Indian gateway ports do not attract a sufficient number of mainline vessels due to inadequate facilities and the distance from international shipping routes.
As of now, about 61 per cent of Indian export/import containers are transshipped through the nearby foreign ports of Colombo, Singapore and Salalah (Oman.)

This results in an additional burden of upto $200 per TEU of cargo interests with freight paid by Indian exporters being 11.4 per cent of the c.i.f (cost, insurance, freight) value of goods as against the world average of 6.1 per cent.
With Vizhimjam port draft being 24 ft it will be able to attract the post Panamax container ships.

Plight
With a capacity of four million TEUs per annum, the Vizhinjam port will have the same capacity of the Colombo Port and with a draft far exceeding Colombo’s harbour depth, the chances of Colombo harbour becoming less attractive to mainliners, is a definite possibility.

For the Colombo Port this may well mean the end of an era. The monopoly Colombo now enjoys over sea routes in this part of the world might become a thing of the past, come 2012.
Sri Lanka has held sway over this industry for centuries now, because of her strategic location and ideal conditions of Colombo harbour.

The relatively new transshipment business came easily to Sri Lanka due to Indian ports not having the depth and capacity to handle the big ships.
Therefore it has been convenient for India to ship containers on smaller vessels from her southern ports to Colombo, where it is mixed and matched to various destinations in the world.

This makes sense so long as the Colombo Port has capacity to handle the expanding transshipment business (which was about 15 per cent year on year). But here lies the catch – the Port of Colombo is coming to the end of its capacity quite soon. Sometime next year Colombo harbour might hit a dead end when the port reaches saturation point.

Notwithstanding the location of Vizhinjam in the Deep South, cargo interests in the southern, northern and western regions may find it more viable to use the port as a gateway/transshipment terminal instead of Colombo, Singapore or Salalah. This means the hinterland of the port may extend to the western and northern parts of the country.
Once the new port has been constructed, Indian exporters will not have to travel to Dubai or Singapore for transshipment of cargo. It is expected to save Rs 1000 crores in expenditure.

According to IIM Students in Bangalore, with India’s current capacity for handling cargo is nearing saturation, a new port is a necessity, and Vizhinjam can fill that void extremely well.
The students in an article to the Economic Times, India have said that US $ 150 is levied in Colombo for transshipment and US $ 130 in Dubai and Singapore for the same.
They have therefore said that India can not only garner a substantial portion of this fee, but also save a lot of money if her ships break their bulk at Indian ports.

“A single container transshipped from Colombo port to Cochin incurs an expense of US $ 1,200. If it was directly landed at Cochin it would cost only US $ 400. Eight per cent of Indian containers are transshipped at Colombo, Singapore and Dubai and Indian ships account for 60 to 70 % of Colombo’s traffic,” they have said in their article.
Considering the shipping volume for the Asian region, the total transshipment cargo is expected to increase by 80%, 70% and 200 % for Colombo, Singapore and Port Klang respectively.

The IIM students from Bangalore in their article to the Economic Times India have therefore suggested that with proper planning Vizhinjam can expect to corner a significant chunk of the shipping volumes forecast to go to Colombo, along with a part of the volumes heading for Singapore and Klang.

Fears expressed
The fast development of Vizhinjam which is sure to gobble a major portion of the earnings by the SLPA, has raised concerns among most of the feeder shipping agents.
A senior official attached to a feeder shipping agency told The Nation that if proper steps were not taken to develop the Colombo harbour rapidly, then Sri Lanka was in for trouble.

“At its current status, the Colombo port will not be able to provide berth to some of the big ships in the future. This does not mean that we have to panic when ports in India are coming up. But if there is an undue delay in the development of the Colombo port then there can be a problem,” he said.

Cheers!!!

[vinodtnt]

New committee presided by Chief Secretary to resolve the disputes persisting regarding the Vizhinjam land acquisition.

www

[Kannan46]

CEO of Vizhinjam project shifted
Source:kaumudionline

T'PURAM: V Gopinathan, has been shifted from the post of chief executive officer of Vizhinjam container terminal project. This is the second time, the chief of the project is being shifted.

L Radhakrishnan, secretary, ports, who was handling the post earlier, will take over the charge. Gopinathan was made the CEO when Radhakrishnan, the then CEO tried to go abroad during a high level meet in connection with the project

CHeers !!!

[Gopal.K.Kumar]

Originally Posted by Kannan46

CEO of Vizhinjam project shifted
Source:kaumudionline CHeers !!!

I do not know the implication of this change on the execution of the project, genuinely.

Can any one point out, if there is any?

[Rajesh SM]

The KITCO report has suggested the following industries in the Vizinjam region: Oil refinery, apparel park, automobile component park, wood park, electronic park, food and vegetable production park, value-added seafood park, engineering product park and natural fibre park.

In addition to the above, the following too were suggested: Super-specialty hospital, educational institutions, shopping malls, convention centres, luxury and budget hospitals, entertainment facilities - including multiplex theatres, facilities for games and sports, greenery and parks, residential buildings, space for banks, trading offices, business centres, police and fire stations and disaster management systems.

[satsk3]

Originally Posted by Rajesh SM

The KITCO report has suggested the following industries in the Vizinjam region: Oil refinery, apparel park, automobile component park, wood park, electronic park, food and vegetable production park, value-added seafood park, engineering product park and natural fibre park.

In addition to the above, the following too were suggested: Super-specialty hospital, educational institutions, shopping malls, convention centres, luxury and budget hospitals, entertainment facilities - including multiplex theatres, facilities for games and sports, greenery and parks, residential buildings, space for banks, trading offices, business centres, police and fire stations and disaster management systems.

Wow, a masterplan thought ... But will it get implimemted ????

The most important things, which I suggest from the list, will be "Oil Refinery, Automobile component Park, Engineering Product Park, Greenery & Parks, Space for Banks, Trading offices & Business centres(especially for Shipping & Logistic companies), Police/Fire/Ambulance stations and Disaster Management Systems".