Tamil Nadu port casts a shadow on Dugarajapatnam port

Visakhapatnam: The mega trans-shipment hub planned at Enayam in Tamil Nadu casts a shadow on the major port project proposed at Dugarajapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. After Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES), another consultant group, AECOM, declared the proposed major port at Dugarajapatnam as commercially not viable. AECOM which was asked to re-conduct the techno-economic feasibility of the project had pointed that the container projection may further decline in case another new trans-shipment hub comes up on the Southern tip of the country.

Union Cabinet last year okayed the  mega trans-shipment hub at Enayam in Kanyakumari district, the country’s southern tip, in three phases at a cost of Rs 25,000 crore.

About 2.8 million TEU (twenty feet equivalent Unit) of Indian containers are currently being trans-shipped through foreign ports like Colombo Port, Port of Singapore and Port Klang which result in an approximate trans-shipment loss to the Indian port industry at Rs 1,500 crore. To counter the loss, the Union government planned a trans-shipment hub at Enayam.

AECOM projected handling of dry, break bulk and container of 7.8, 10.7, 20 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) by the year 2020, 2025, 2035 respectively by Dugarajapatnam port. “For container traffic projections, M/s AECOM has stated that the projection may further decline in case another new trans-shipment hub comes up in the southern tip of the country. On the basis of above projections, only three berths are envisaged by 2035 for handling the cargo of 15.70 MT,” Union minister of state for shipping Pon Radhakrishnan said in parliament recently.