LONDON: Cargo movement through Kochi port has shown little improvement during the current financial year over the previous year.
Indian Ports Association figures show that cargo movement through Kochi increased 2.08 per cent between April and October this year when compared to the same period last year.
However, Kochi has done better than Chennai, Visakhapatnam and New Mangalore ports where cargo throughput has come down during the period under consideration. Cargo throughput fell 3.76 per cent in Visakhapatnam; 3.82 per cent in Chennai and 8.76 per cent in New Mangalore.
Among the ports where there has been an increase in throughput, Marmugao has shown an increase of 25.27 per cent. Kolkata has shown an increase of 16.92 per cent.
Kochi handled a total of 1,31,12000 tonnes of cargo during the period.
Meanwhile, Cochin Port Trust has invited bids for conducting ship manoeuvrability and mooring studies for berthing vessels at the proposed Coast Guard berth at the port.
The Port Trust has, on behalf of the Indian Coast Guard, proposed to build a dedicated berth for berthing Coast Guard vessels in the Mattancherry channel.
The jetty is proposed to be built in a T-shape and the port wants the selected party to carry out real-time ship simulator studies to ascertain ship manoeuvrability and mooring for berthing the vessels without the assistance of tugs.
The ship manoeuvrability simulation studies will be done for different scenarios and conditions while the mooring analysis will assess, among other things, the effect of passing ships on the vessels moored at the proposed berth.
