KOCHI: Despite various hurdles, including the standoff between the Customs and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and stringent maritime laws, the International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) at Vallarpadam, is sailing towards a better year ahead.As the terminal is about to introduce NEMO (a weekly direct service to European destinations), another mainline vessel, NCX service, connecting Kochi to China via Singapore, is all set to call at ICTT Vallarpadam from December 18 onwards. The NCX Service will connect ICTT to the Hong Kong, Shanghai and Ningbo ports.The mainline vessel ‘Irenes Reliance’ will be the first vessel to call at ICTT for the NCX service and will be jointly run by the Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL), Mitsui OSK Line (MOL) and Samudra Shipping. The NEMO/EAX service, jointly run by CMA CGM and Hapag Lloyd, started calling at ICTT from November. “Direct service to China is significant as China is emerging as the major buyer of seafood,” said a top official of the D P World. The terminal has also witnessed an increase in the rail traffic, especially, from ICD Bangalore and continues to rise steadily, both in terms of the number of trains and the volume handled.In February this year, when the ICTT was commissioned, the flow of cargo from Bangalore ICD was nominal and was around 200-300 TEUs per month. Since then, there has been a considerable growth in the flow of cargo during the past six months. By July-August, the volume of cargo went up to around 800 TEUs per month. Until June this year, there was only one train, per week, to connect Bangalore with Vallarpadam. In July, the number was upgraded to two trains per week and later, in August, the number touched three trains per week.
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