Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) will commence feeder service at Mormugao port with a feeder vessel from Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, offloading 78 containers on Friday. The feeder service, which is restarting after a hiatus since 2018, will not take any coastal cargo from Goa on its journey to Mundra, Gujarat.
However, its second port of call at Mormugao on Dec 8 this year will see 200 containers being handled at the port, said officials of Delta Ports (Mormugao Terminal Pvt Ltd).
The feeder service will handle salt, fertilisers, raw materials, and minor minerals as coastal cargo.
Delta Ports officials said that two other shipping lines are also in discussion with the Mormugao port to start feeder services, but the talks have yet to reach a successful conclusion.
The arrival of the feeder vessel, SCI Mumbai, will mark the end of a seven-year dry spell that forced exporters to rely on expensive and timeconsuming road transport. The commencement of the feeder service is being closely watched by local cargo handling agents and exporters, with pharmaceutical companies and sensitive manufacturing firms yet to sign up for the long-demanded container service.
For the last seven years, exporters and manufacturers in the state have been sending their cargo by road to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (Nava Sheva), Mumbai, spending anywhere between ₹80,000 to ₹1 lakh per container.
SCI plans to connect Goa with Mundra port, a privately managed port that has become one of India’s largest container terminals.
