Union Minister for Shipping GK Vasan informed the Lok Sabha that his ministry provides budgetary support to major ports to undertake capital dredging projects.
He said the three major ports i.e. Chennai, Ennore and Vishakapatnam have navigational channel having more than 17 metre draft and are capable of handling larger vessels.
Also, the government has been providing subsidy to meet the cost of maintenance dredging in Kolkata Port which is a riverine Port with a very long navigational channel.
The ministry gives annual targets to all major ports for dredging and this is closely monitored by it.
In order to develop a transshipment hub, the shipping ministry developed an International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) at Vallarpadam in Cochin Port and this started operation in February, 2011, the minister said.
Owing to the proximity to international maritime routes, transshipment of EXIM containers used to take place largely in foreign Ports like Colombo, Dubai, Singapore, Salalah, he said.
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