Discussions held regarding operating weekly cargo vessel between Male

Discussions have been held between officials of Ports Authority of Maldives, Cochin Port Trust and Vallarpadam Transhipment Container Terminal, regarding operating a weekly cargo vessel between Male’ and Cochin.

India’s The Economic Times reported that the discussions were held in Cochin on Friday.

The Economic Times highlighted that the Male’ Port is only 30 hours of sailing from Cochin, and Maldives imports about $1.5 billion worth of goods annually. It said that a lot of Indian-origin produce and products are now routed to Maldives through Colombo, Dubai and Singapore, which means there is a scope to operate a weekly service of a 600 TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit) vessel from Cochin Port to Male’.

The paper referred to a press release and said that the regular shipping would reduce cost of imports for Maldives, which is sometimes forced to airlift items in shortage.

K K Krishanadas, CEO, DP World Cochin, terminal operators of ICTT Vallarpadam, who attended the discussions, confirmed that they have started efforts to promote cargo movement to Maldives Port via Cochin Port. Paul Antony, Chairman Cochin Port Trust, hoped that the proposed 100 acre Free Trade Warehousing Zone (FTWZ) of Cochin Port could be ideal for this Maldivian trade opportunity.

“It was decided to apprise the shipping companies and business community in Kerala and Tamil Nadu and oil companies to tap this business opportunity and facilitate faster connectivity to Maldives via Kochi,” reported The Economic Times.