Mangaluru: The largest parcel size container vessel made a port of call at New Mangalore Port on Tuesday. According to the port authorities, the container vessel MV SSL Brahmaputra - V.084 is the largest parcel size container vessel calling to Port in terms of containers as well as size. The vessel is of 260-meter Length Overall (LOA) with a 32.35-meter beam and has a Dead Weight Tonnage of (DWT) of 50900 MT. The vessel has arrived laden with 1142/1521 boxes/TEU (Twenty foot Equivalent Unit) of 25864.40 MT raw cashew nuts and has a scheduled export plan of 300 TEUs.
Shreyas Shipping is the vessel operator and Amogha Shipping, Mangalore is representing them as their local agent. The container traffic at NMPT has steadily increased from less than 2000 TEUs handled in the year 2000 to 1.5 lakh TEUS handled in 2020-21. So far these containers were handled at various general cargo berths of the Port, the port authorities said.
Overseeing the increase in container handling, the Port has awarded the work of mechanisation of container handling at an exclusively deep draft berth (No.14) to Mangalore Container Terminal Pvt. Ltd.(JSW) on PPP model which is expected to foster the growth of container traffic at the Port in the coming years.
Port Trust Chairman A V Ramana expressed his happiness over the record handling of such large container vessels and appraised the port’s multi-dimensional friendly initiatives made this happen such as online gate admittance, improved storage facilities, better service and cost-effective measures. He is also hopeful about a surge in the container traffic at the Port in the coming days.
