Mangaluru: The New Mangalore Port has crossed handling of 1 lakh TEUs of containers as on Monday during the financial year.

It is a significant milestone achievement towards the development of container traffic (TEU stands for Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit which can be used to measure a ship’s cargo carrying capacity).

During the current year (2017-18, as on February 26), the port has handled 1,00,666 TEUs (15,00,572 tonnes) of containerised cargo and further 13 vessels are scheduled to call during the remaining period of the current financial year.

According to NMPT In-charge Chairman Suresh P Shirwadkar, the increased handling of coffee, raw cashew, gherkins, machinery, polypropline granules, chemicals, agri-products, coastal cargo, etc has contributed immensely in achieving a growth rate of 23% in terms of TEUs and 24% in terms of volume.

The port is witnessing a steady growth in container traffic mainly due to pro-active business promotion initiatives, made by the port, coupled with the infrastructure and capacity addition ie, expansion of container yards, container handling equipment, like reach stackers, increased number of reefer plug points, concretisation of roads, simplified documentation, RFID system of admittance and ease of doing business initiatives etc.

He said the initiatives of the port have contributed positive results in fostering the container movement to the port from the hinterland which is evident from the fact that from 9646 TEUs handled in 2005-06, has grown to 1 lakh plus TEUs in 2017-18 (till

The growth rate of 23% could be sustained on account of increase in the frequency of calls by feeder line vessels competitive ocean freight offered by Main Line Container Operators and option of 3 transhipment ports that resulted in a reduction in transit time.

These concerted efforts made by port associating MLOs, Feeder Line operators, Logistic providers, and Customs has enabled the port in attracting additional volumes of containers from the hinterland.

The stabilisation of frequency of schedules of the vessels and harmonious industrial relationship has enabled in establishing the reliability of services and freight advantage over the neighbouring ports, he added.

With the increasing trend in container traffic, the Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) has recently commenced their operation from Inland Container Depot (ICD) Bengaluru to NMPT where they have established the railway siding and commissioned on January 31.

This initiative will further boost the connectivity and transportation of container traffic through rail. Presently they have commenced their weekly train service from Bengaluru to Mangaluru and vise-versa which they propose to improve in due course, said the chairman.