Farmers told to use container facility

Nellore: Krishnapatnam Port Container Terminal (KPCT), a fully developed container terminal commissioned in September 2011 and operated by Krishnapatnam Port has become the preferred destination for container trade on the East Coast of India, chief executive officer of Krishnapatnam Port Company Anil Yendluri claimed.

He invited the farmers of the region to make use of the facility to export their farm produces.

Speaking to this newspaper, he said that they are ready to provide all the assistance necessary for export to the farming community.

He added that the aqua exporters are already using the facility to export shrimp and other related products.

According to Anil, the container yard was developed to handle 18,400 TEUs (Twenty equivalent units) and with 200 Nos of Reefer Plug Points (for refrigerated containers) does provide a seamless connectivity from the yard to the container vessels and vice-versa.

The container terminals is equipped with rail mounted quay cranes rubber tyre gantry cranes, and reach stackers for handling of containers and provide faster turnaround for all the container vessels that are calling at KPCT.

He said that that they have strategic tie-up with MLOs (multi-level operators) and feeders, freight forwarders, CHAs (customs house agents) LSPs (logistic service providers) and transporters, CTOs (container train operators) and ICDs (inland container depots).

He added that the main liners and feeder services call KPCT on a regular basis because of faster turnaround time with average berthing time for the vessels being 90 minutes and trailer turnaround time being 50 minutes from entry to exit of the port unlike others ports in the country.

“Enabling infrastructure like rail side container yards to handle container trains is located in the container terminal. Support infrastructure like covered warehouse facility to an extent of 2,00,000 sq.ft is available towards stuffing and destuffing of containers. Separate fumigation zone has been developed inside the terminal. Special facilities towards handling of hazardous and non-hazardous cargo also have been provided inside KPCT. In addition to this the terminal has a dedicated customs facility with functional EDI (electronic data interface to process all the documents to enable faster clearance of consignments. As of the now the cargo profile of KPCT includes cement, feldspar, cotton, quartz, rice, tobacco, potash feldspar, maize, Imerys Powder, cement clinker, Barites, granite, turmeric powder, chillies, PVC products, mica, shredded scrap, equipment and related spares, sheet material and waste paper,” Anil said.

He said that they have been encouraging import of goods in containers to enhance the availability of empty containers to improve their availability for exporters.