Chinese Ship Becomes First to Dock at Vizhinjam Port

Padmesh Prabhune

Delayed by 10 days due to bad weather, the Chinese ship finally arrived, thus becoming the first to be docked at Vizhinjam port in Kerala.

The Chinese vessel ‘Zhen Hua 15’, which began its journey from Shanghai, China, at the end of August, reached the outer anchorage near Vizhinjam, and was given the water salute by the tug boats.

Though the ship was towed to the port on Thursday, it was given the official welcome at a function on October 15 in which chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and union minister for ports and shipping Sarbananda Sonowal will take part alongside a host of MLAs, MPs and bureaucrats.

At the formal ceremony on October 15, the cargo atop the vessel will be unloaded at the port here.

The first phase of construction of the port is expected to be completed by May next year and once fully realised, it will be able to handle 75 percent of the country’s transshipment needs. Upon commission, the port mega structure worth Rs 7600 built on PPP model will be able to directly compete with neighborhood ports like Colombo in Sri Lanka, Jebel Ali in Dubai, and Singapore, for international transshipment needs.

-Marex Media