Shreyas Shipping's feeder vessel makes maiden call at ICTT Vallarpadam
Shreyas Shipping, an Indian vessel operator that pioneered coastal transhipment and carriage of coastal domestic containers by sea with a prime motive of going green has launched one more feeder vessel to Kochi as part of its West Coast services. The vessel m.v. OEL KOCHI with a carrying capacity of 1,725 TEUs had its maiden call at the Vallarpadam International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT), operated by DP World Cochin on August 14, Daily Shipping Times reports.
The vessel is expected to enhance the current Indian tonnage deployed on the West Coast by as much as 22 per cent. The service will have weekly calls with a proposed routing of ICTT-Tuticorin-Mundra-Hazira-Nhava Sheva-ICTT.
To mark this special occasion, Hon. MLA V.D. Satheeshan (Paravoor), Hon. MLA Hibi Eden (EKM), Shri Paul Antony, IAS, Chairman, Cochin Port Trust, Dr K. N. Raghavan, IRS, Commissioner of Customs, Kochi, & Shri K. Krishnadas, Director & CEO, DP World were present to grace the occasion. Shreyas Shipping & Logistics Board members Shri S. Ramakrishnan, Chairman and Managing Director , Shri D. T. Joseph, Director, Capt. P. R. Radhakrishnan, Director, Shri L. B. Culas, Director, and Shri Ritesh Ramakrishnan, Director were also seen at the inaugural function.
The function started with the lighting of the ceremonial lamp by Shri S. Ramakrishnan, Chairman of Shreyas Shipping & Logistics along with other distinguished guests. The Chairman of Shreyas Shipping felicitated the MLAs by presenting a bouquet.
Addressing the gathering Shri S. Ramakrishnan, said that the Vallarpadam Terminal offers an opportunity both for container feedering and domestic business in the region and the objective is to increase the throughput utilizing its potential.
The company has also plans to connect all the Indian ports with ICTT for transhipment business as the tonnage growth in the west coast area is expected to facilitate the connectivity to ICTT.
"We envision a bright future for coastal shipping in India. Shreyas has therefore inducted one more vessel to its fleet, and on her maiden call at Cochin Port, we will dedicate her to the nation for the coastal trade on the eve of the 65th Independence Day. We have named the vessel as OEL KOCHI to primarily promote connectivity between the Vallarpadam terminal at Kochi with other Indian ports and container terminals”, added Mr S. Ramakrishnan.
Shri Ramakrishnan said that Shreyas Shipping has taken steps to add its fleet strength from the present five to seven shortly. The company has earmarked an investment outlay of Rs 100 crore to procure two more vessels, which would be materialised in one year.
To a question on the proposed relaxation of Cabotage law, he pointed out that Indian ship owners are not against the relaxation of the law. But the Government should address the concern of the domestic shipping companies as there are several other issues to be sorted out before going ahead with this move. According to Ramakrishnan, Indian shipping companies are only seeking a level playing field to compete with foreign ships. This includes waiver of duty on bunker calls, tax reduction for crew wages, and development of infrastructure facilities in various ports and terminals as well as security issues.
The distinguished guest Hon. MLA V.D. Satheeshan (Paravoor) and Hon. MLA Hibi Eden (EKM) addressing the gathering emphasized that, “Shreyas Shipping is always been in the forefront and we congratulate them for introducing new vessel m.v. OEL Kochi at ICTT Vallarpadam. Dr K. N. Raghavan & Shri K. Krishnadas also congratulated and wished all the good luck for the future.
Further, he invited Shri Paul Antony, Chairman, Cochin Port Trust to address the gathering. Shri Paul Antony thanked and congratulated the Board of Directors of Shreyas Shipping for launching one more feeder vessel to Kochi, which will facilitate the connectivity of Vallarpadam.
He also stressed the need for Cabotage law relaxation for the benefit of Vallarpadam terminal as the present tonnage capacity available with Indian carriers is inadequate to meet the growing demand from Vallarpadam.
Shri V. K. Singh, CEO, Shreyas Shipping, said that the tonnage available today did not justify the volume of transhipment and there is no need for additional tonnage by way of Cabotage relaxations.
Further, the function had a symbolic cake cutting ceremony on the introduction of new feeder vessel at ICTT Vallarpadam.
Shri S. Ramakrishnan along with his wife celebrated the arrival of the new vessel by cutting the cake at the ceremony.
In the evening a party was organized at Taj Malabar to celebrate OEL Kochi maiden call at ICTT Vallarpadam. Shri Ramakrishnan along with other directors of Shreyas Shipping felicitated leading shipping lines and other important customers from Gujarat, New Delhi and Chennai who always supported them throughout the years to attain the success of Shreyas Shipping.
