KOCHI: The first train carrying export containers from Inland Container Depot (ICD), Tuticorin, reached the International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) at Vallarpadam on Wednesday. The train from Tuticorin came with 90 TEUs export containers to be loaded to ships Lal Bahadur Shasthri and OEL Dubai berthed at ICTT. Service from Tuticorin gains significance in the backdrop of a move for introducing count restriction at Tuticorin Container Terminal affecting transshipments via sea to Tuticorin to and from the ICTT. Apart from this, there are four weekly services from Bangalore ICD.“Container Corporation of India (CONCOR), which operates the train services has been very aggressively supporting the trade. When other ports like Chennai and Tuticorin are facing various issues including congestion, the ICTT has been able to maintain very high productivity of approx 30 moves per hour per crane and an average turnaround of 45 minutes for the trucks arriving at the Terminal,” said DP World authorities who operates the ICTTThey claimed that the EXIM trade in the hinterland previously using Chennai and Tuticorin have now started diverting their volumes to ICTT Vallarpadam due to delay and subsequent cost escalation being faced at other ports. There has been a considerable increase in the volume of cargo sent to the ICTT from Bangalore ICD in the last couple of months. From one train a week with a volume of approx150-200 TEUs per month, the number of train services have increased to 3 fixed day trains per week with an additional train on an adhoc basis which altogether bringing over 1200 TEUs per month.
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