Chennai Container to double traffic to China

Chennai Container Terminal (CCT), the private container terminal operated by DP World, is set to double container volumes to 25,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) on its China mainline services from October.

A direct weekly container service called North China Chennai (NCC) connecting Chennai port with ports in Northern China, Malaysia and Singapore commenced recently.

With this, CCT has three mainline services to China "" Indfex 2, ACS and NCC. Container volumes are expected to double to 25,000 TEUs from October through these three mainline services operating between Chennai port and China.

The NCC service will connect Chennai with Port Klang, Singapore, Hong Kong, Qingdao, Lianyungang and Shanghai.

The service will be operated by a tripartite consortium comprising Singapore-based Sea Consortium, Taiwan-based Wan Hai Lines and Cheng Lie Navigation Ltd. Four vessels with a capacity of 1,400 TEUs each will be operated under this weekly service.

The first vessel on this service, Dolores, made its maiden call at CCT last Thursday. The vessel will load around 540 TEUs of export containers and unload 1,190 TEUs of import containers.

The service is expected to benefit the Chennai trade community as North China offers huge potential for exports and imports. Lianyungang is a promising growth centre for industry, foreign trade and tourism and is expected to be the new destination for the world's traders.

Qingdao is a manufacturing centre for electronic items. Major items currently exported to China are granite, stones and slabs. Machinery and electronics are among the most commonly imported items, a company statement said.

The new NCC service is expected to bring Chennai even closer to China, said Ennarasu Karunesan, director and chief executive officer, CCT.

K Suresh, chairman, Chennai Port, said the new direct service will help reduce transit times to 28 days for a round trip from the earlier 30-40 days.

Earlier, much of Indian cargo was transhipped through hub ports like Singapore and Hong Kong. Now, cargo can be delivered without the need for transshipment at another port and transit times can be reduced further.

NCC is the fourth direct mainline shipping service launched from Chennai port this year. With seven mainline services, Chennai port is now offers connectivity to 58 global ports.