KOCHI: Kochi is referred to as the maritime gateway to peninsular India and an all-weather natural port located strategically close to the busiest international sea route. However, these geographical advantages are not going to benefit Kochi as long as the standoff between the special economic zone (SEZ) and the Customs Kochi unit over the inspection of transshipment containers at Vallarpadam terminal prevails.The International Container Transshipment Terminal Vallarpadam (ICTT) was envisaged and implemented aiming at making Kochi the global transshipment terminal. Commissioned in February, the ICTT is on a par with any other transshipment terminals in terms of facilities. What creates crisis is the lack of a coordination between the Customs and the SEZ.The Customs and the SEZ authorities are at loggerheads over the inspection of consignments by the former at the ICTT. The SEZ authorities’ stand is that inspection cannot be permitted in the SEZ area which is not acceptable to the Customs. In a latest incident, Customs authorities on Friday blocked transshipment of around 60 containers brought from Tuticorin. The Customs offloaded the consignment from the mainline vessel ‘Turungia Express.’ The detention of containers caused delay in the departure of the vessel from Kochi. The vessel left Kochi without the detained containers. “Trade will be hit if these kind of incidents are repeated. If this situation continues, our efforts to attract more mainline services to the ICTT will become futile,” said a top official of the Dubai Port World, which operates the terminal.In yet another development, it is learnt from reliable sources that the shipping line which started direct service to European destinations on a weekly basis is planning to cancel its call to Kochi as they do not find any advantage at ICTT over Colombo where the transshipment containers that arrive from the region would not be subjected to repeated Customs formalities.“We can surely expect such hard decisions from the company. Even if they decide to cancel the calls, we see no justification,” sources in the D P World said. The Customs authorities are demanding a station inside the ICTT which is not acceptable to the SEZ authorities.Presently, transshipment containers arriving at Vallarpadam are manifested by the SEZ officers at the terminal in a document called Form SEZ-1B. This form also serves as the manifest of all transshipment cargo intended for clearance at customs stations other than Kochi or destined to ports outside the country. A copy of Form SEZ - 1B would also be furnished to the Commissioner of Customs. Sticking on to their stand, the Customs authorities maintained that SEZ authorities had no power to inspect the cargo. “Inspection of export-import cargo is the statutory duty of Customs. Even the SEZ Act does not allow the SEZ authorities to inspect and clear the cargo,” Customs authorities said. Repeated verifications will only delay the movement of containers and the whole objective of transshipping will be futile. If the cumbersome procedures continue, international shipping lines will definitely divert and continue to use Colombo as their transshipment hub,” D P World authorities said.
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