The state govt has received Rs 4.7 crore as tax from 19 ships that arrived at Vizhinjam International Seaport during its one-month trial period until Oct 1, ports minister V N Vasavan said in the assembly on Tuesday.
He said the port has already provided jobs to 56% of local people as per the agreement.
“The trial run of Vizhinjam Port is progressing successfully.
So far, 26 ships have arrived at the port, and the revenue from the remaining ships is being calculated. The Port managed to handle 10% of the containers in South Indian ports during this period,” the minister said.
“The port handled 68,000 containers so far, with a capacity to hold more than 24,000 containers (TEU). The giant ship, MSC Claude Girardet, berthed at a South Asian port for the first time. Additionally, by handling over 10,000 containers (TEU) from MSC Anna, Vizhinjam achieved the distinction of being the Indian port that handled the most containers from a single ship,” the minister added.
The port continues to receive ships almost every other day, including motherships.
A mothership, MSC Lisbon, unloaded containers for other ships to pick up and move to other parts of the country. The ship came from Mundra Port in Gujarat.
An official said that the Port functions normally as ships keep coming, and the operations are perfected.
“The state govt and Adani Ports had agreed on a commissioning date of Dec 3. But this was part of an agreement. The final date will be decided by govt. However, it is expected to be commissioned in Dec,” he added.