Kattupalli port to give Chennai port a run for its money

The operation of container terminal at Kattupalli port may reduce the traffic of container cargo at the nearby Chennai Port, reports indicate.

From next month, Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T) plans to start operation at its container terminal in Kattupalli port.

The terminal may handle up to 400,000 containers per annum and can touch half a million capacity with a single berth. Manila-based port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc would operate and maintain the terminal.

On September 19, the first vessel — Thailand Chennai Express Service, a consortium of NYK and X-Feeders — would call.

There is a delay of around two years in operationalising the terminal, which was set up at a cost of around Rs 2,000 crore. Industry sources feel that the terminal would reduce container traffic at Chennai port by 10 per cent.

Already, Chennai port has not been able to use its two container terminals efficiently. These terminals, one run by DP World and other by PSA International, are handling only 120,000-130,000 TEUs of containers a month. But these two terminals can handle up to two million TEUs a year.