New cargo vessel service to Middle East inaugurated

A new cargo vessel service which will touch three Indian ports-- Kattuppalli, Tuticorin and Kochi and then sail directly to the Middle East from here was launched today.
The vessel, 'SSL Gujarat', with a capacity of 1800 TEUs sails from Kochi non-stop to Jebel Ali and covers the distance of 1780 Nautical mile in five days, a release from Cochin Port said.
The vessel commences its journey from Kattuppalli in East Coast and touches Tuticorin before coming to Cochin Port for its final onward voyage to Jebel Ali. Thereby, the vessel service also facilitate the connectivity of East India Ports Kattuppalli and Tuticorin to Kochi.

The long felt need of a direct sailing from Tuticorin to Kochi is also met by the introduction of this service.
The service is operated by Shreyas Shipping Ltd. The main beneficiary of the service will be the exporters from Kerala who gets a non-stop, fast and economic service to the Middle East.
The CONCORD has started two container train services every week from Coimbatore and a weekly service from Bengaluru to Vallarpadam. The export from Bengaluru and Coimbatore will be benefited by the direct voyage to Middle East which till now was partly moving through Colombo.
Vallarpadam has now three services to the Middle East with the addition of the "SSL Gujarat". The Shreyas shipping informed that they plan to induct two more vessels into the service to increase frequency of sailing from Cochin to Middle East.