Cochin Port is set to witness comprehensive development in connectivity, logistics and infrastructure. Cochin Port Authority (CoPA) will prepare a detailed master plan for the development and it has issued a tender inviting consultancy services for preparing the master plan.
The tender document says that the master plan includes cargo projections, land use plan and optimization, warehousing, connectivity, cruise potential, future fuels, etc. It says that the aim of the development is “to achieve efficient logistics for enhancing economic development”.
Cochin port is strategically located, near the major shipping routes, only 11 nautical miles from the Gulf−Singapore Channel, and 76 nautical miles from the Europe−Far East route.
CoPA plans to promote International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) as a transshipment hub for receiving vessels with a draft of up to 16m in height. The first phase of ICTT was commissioned in Feb 2011 with a quay length of 600m and draft of 14.5m for receiving vessels. Now the second phase of development is planning to attract more big vessels to the port.
CoPA has under its jurisdiction about 2,177 acres of land at various locations in the city. Port facilities are located in Willingdon Island (356 hectares), which houses the administrative office and oil, dry cargo and cruise terminals, apart from Vallarpadam, where the ICTT is functioning, and Puthuvype (308 hectares), where the storage tanks of BPCL, and the LNG and LPG terminals are located.
“With the commissioning of ICTT in 2011, container operations and ancillary business shifted out of Willingdon Island, which led to a decline in the prominence of Willingdon Island. It is therefore planned to have a multi-sectoral development for the island,” says the tender document of CoPA.