With arrival of first cargo ship, Vizhinjam port has commenced operations: CM Vijayan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday said though the arrival of the first cargo vessel at Vizhinjam sea port was a trial run, with this the operation of international deep-water trans-shipment port has commenced.

The CM formally welcomed the 300-metre-long Chinese mothership 'San Fernando' in a ceremony held at the port here in the presence of Union Minister for Ports, Shipping, and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal, Kerala Assembly Speaker A N Shamseer, several state ministers, UDF MLA M Vincent and APSEZ Managing Director Karan Adani.

The mothership had on Thursday docked at the port being developed by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd, (APSEZ), India's largest port developer and part of the Adani Group, in a public-private partnership model at a cost of around Rs 8,867 crore.

Vijayan, addressing a large gathering of people who had arrived at the port to see the 300-metre-long mothership, said the Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited (VISL) will become a full fledged one by 2028, 17 years ahead of schedule.

Initially it was envisioned that by 2045, phases two, three and four of the port would be completed and it would become a fully equipped port, he said.

However, it will become a full-fledged port by 2028, with an investment of Rs 10,000 crore, for which an agreement will be signed soon, he said.

Vijayan said the then LDF government in 2006 had said that it would try to get permission for building a port at Vizhinjam, where building of a port has been considered since the royal times.

In March 2007, VISL was made the nodal agency, but subsequently, the then Manmohan Singh government denied permission for the port, he said.

He further said that it was only due to the over 200 days-long public protests led by the LDF that the permission for the port was granted.

"When we came to power in 2016, the port construction work commenced," he contended.

His remarks come in the wake of the opposition Congress claiming that the port was "the baby" of the UDF and party stalwart late Oommen Chandy was the driving force behind it.

Vijayan said that as Vizhinjam emerges as an international port, it will further increase the importance of India globally.

"But certain forces, especially international lobbies, tried to create hurdles to prevent this from becoming a reality. Many commercial lobbies too were against the Vizhinjam port," he said.

The CM said that despite these adversities, the government was clear that the port should come up and that vision was executed.

"Our only concern was that it should not be turned into an avenue of corruption or exploitation," he added.

Vijayan said that the port's location just 11 nautical miles from the international shipping lanes and its natural deep depth of 20 meters made it perfect for being the "port-of-ports or motherport".

He said the coming up of the port would also create employment opportunities as more than 5,000 jobs would be available as part of it.

"It is estimated that once this port becomes fully operational, Kerala will become the hub of container business in the country. It is also expected that the Vizhinjam port will lead to major development in the fields of industry, commerce, transport and tourism and thus, the general economic growth of the state," the CM said.

He said the port will also benefit India's neighbouring countries.

Karan Adani, who also spoke at the event, said the berthing of the mothership at the port was "a symbol of a new, glorious achievement in Indian maritime history".

Talking about the port's state-of-the-art infrastructure, he said no other port in India, including the Mundra Port, has technologies which are there at Vizhinjam.

"What we have already installed here is South Asia’s most advanced container handling technology. And once we complete the automation and the Vessel Traffic Management System, Vizhinjam will be in a class of its own as one of the most technologically sophisticated transshipment ports in the world," he said.

Equipped with modern equipment and advanced automation and IT systems, Vizhinjam will become India's first semi-automated port, expected to be fully commissioned in September or October 2024.

The project, scheduled to be commissioned in 2019, was delayed due to issues with land acquisition, various natural calamities and the Covid-19 pandemic.