Centre likely to amend cabotage law

Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy said that prime minister Manmohan Singh had assured him of amendments in the cabotage law, which will help the Vallarpadam transshipment terminal to scale up operations.

The current law on domestic shipment of containers reserves 100 per cent coastal transportation to national flag vessels. This badly affects the maximum utilisation of facilities at the terminal as huge container vessels cannot be attracted to the port. According to Chandy, the prime minister assured him that he would direct the shipping ministry to expedite the matter.

Inaugurating the office of the Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO) in Kochi, Chandy said that he had discussed with the prime minister the issue regarding the amendment of cabotage laws for facilitating foreign feeder vessels to carry transhipment containers between Vallarpadam and other Indian ports. This will enable the terminal to handle large vessels which carry few thousands of containers. The present Act do not permit operation of foreign vessels in coastal transportation.

The matter has been represented before the Centre, which had agreed in-principle to change the law. The change in the cabotage law is essential for the optimum utilisation of the in-built capacity of the Vallarpadam container terminal.

Kerala exports spices, cashew and handloom items, among others, but the state needs to increase exports for which there is a need to develop infrastructure, including coastal transport.

Besides Vallarpadam, two major ports at Vizhinjam in Thiruvananthapuram district and Azhikkal in Kannur district and other minor ports would be developed to promote coastal transport, he said. The formalities with regard to the tender process of the Vizhinjam project was over and final discussions are on with Welspun consortium, the single bidder for terminal operations.