Speaking on the occasion, Singh pointed out that the absence of a global hub port and lack of transshipment facilities had been affecting the country’s trade.
“Today, about 60 per cent of India’s export and import containers are transshipped through ports like Singapore and Colombo,” he said.
This transshipment through ports outside the country entailed additional expenditure of $300 per container and up to days of transit time.
“With the building of the terminal, our exporters can now access mainline container vessels calling at one of the most well-located ports of India,” he said referring to Kochi.
Mainline vessels are mother ships which can carry up to 8,000 containers and had not been berthing at Indian ports because of inadequate facilities. The ICTT is the first major foreign direct investment to Kerala through the public-private partnership route.
The terminal constructed on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis by the Dubai Ports World (DPW) was a symbol of how public-private partnership could contribute to public good, the prime minister said.
Dubai Port World and Cochin Port Trust have invested Rs 1,600 crores each in the ICTT, with the DP World agreeing to operate the India Gateway Terminal, its Indian arm, for the next 30 years at 33.3 per cent revenue sharing basis.
The total number of containers handled in the first phase would be one million and touch four million containers annually when fully operational.
Rail-road connectivity
Singh said the construction of the ICTT was the centrepiece of a comprehensive plan to develop Kochi as an economic and logistical hub of the region.
A link road connecting the terminal to NH 17 and NH 47 and an 8.5 km-long rail link have been built as part of this. The electrified rail connectivity comprised the country’s longest rail bridge at 4.62 km.
The West Coast Canal also offered good hinterland connectivity for Kochi and Vallarpadom along the length of Kerala.
Others who attended the function included Union Minister for Shipping G K Vasan, Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan, union ministers A K Antony and Vayalar Ravi, Ministers of State Mullapally Ramachandran, K V Thomas and K C Venugopal, UAE Foreign Trade Minister Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi and DP World chairman Sultan Ahmad Bin Sulayem.