A turning tide for ICTT following the political turmoil in Sri Lanka

The transshipment port at Kochi sees opportunity in the Sri Lankan crisis to attract more cargo from Colombo

Back in 2011, when then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the country’s first International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) at Vallarpadam, one of three islands that form part of Kochi, he called it one of the “most well-located ports” in India. The port, he hoped, would reduce expenditure and transit time for Indian containers, which are heavily dependent on the giant transshipment ports such as nearby Colombo.

Yet a decade later, India continued to rely heavily on Colombo: 60 per cent of the country’s transshipment cargo is handled by the Sri Lankan port. It is, in fact, India-linked cargo that contributes the