Kochi Port has various advantages in offering bunkering service to ocean-going ships such as high-quality bunkers, pipeline jetty loading facility for supply to ships at outer sea, a top official of HPCL said.
The port offers competitive rates among South Asian ports, lowest tax rates for bunkers to foreign vessels besides offering easy access to ancillary maritime facilities, S Jeyakrishnan, Executive Director, Direct Sales of HPCL said.
The public sector oil marketing firm started supplying marine fuels from Kochi Port in order to promote it as a bunkering destination.
HPCL plans to continue competitive pricing for bunker sales and increase the volumes to 120 tonne metric tonne per annum (mn tpa) in Kochi. It will also initiate steps to market Kochi internationally as a bunker hub to substitute other ports in the South Asian region, Jeyakrishnan said.
Detailing the bunkering business of the company, K RadhaKrishnan, DGM, I& C, said ships plying on other international trade routes passing through the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean could use Indian ports for bunkering, as the coastline was strategically located and easily accessible on those routes. The present bunkering facilities of HPCL are at Kandla, Mumbai/JNPT, Marmugao, Chennai and Vizag.
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