Second feeder vessel to leave for Chennai on July 22

Limited-scale commercial operations at Vizhinjam international seaport underway, with feeder ships transshipping containers for trial run assessment.

The first phase of the limited-scale commercial operations of the Vizhinjam international seaport will be over by July 22 with the feeder ship Navios Tempo, docked at the port, leaving for the Kamarajar port at Ennore in north Chennai.

The feeder vessel will transship around 860 containers from here, while another feeder vessel called Kmarin Azur had departed for Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) in Mumbai recently.

The feeder vessels were pressed in for transshipping around 1,930 containers discharged by the first mother vessel, San Fernando, chartered by Maersk, that called at the port here as part of the trial run of the port. After the departure of the second feeder vessel, the port authorities will assess the performance of the port operations. After a review of the operations, the second mother vessel of the Mediterranean Shipping Company, with a length of around 400 metres, will call at the port.

However, the port authorities said the second mother vessel is expected to arrive here by the last week of July. The trial run will continue for the next two to three months, as per the current status. The date for commissioning the port will be decided after the successful trial run of the port infrastructure.