Chinese ship becomes first to be docked at Vizhinjam port, gets water salute

Chinese vessel ‘Zhen Hua 15’, which began its journey from a port in Shanghai, China, at the end of August, reached the outer anchorage near Vizhinjam on Wednesday

A Chinese cargo vessel carrying cranes was given a ‘water salute’ by the tug boats on Thursday as it became the first ship to be berthed at the under-construction Vizhinjam International Seaport in Kerala.

The ship will be given the official welcome at a function on October 15.

Though the ship was tugged and brought to the port on Thursday, it will be 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.

The vessel ‘Zhen Hua 15’, which began its journey from a port in Shanghai, China, at the end of August, reached the outer anchorage near Vizhinjam on Wednesday. It had made a pitstop at the Mundra port in Gujarat on its way to Vizhinjam to offload some cranes there. At the formal ceremony on October 15, the cargo atop the vessel will be unloaded at the port here.

The event on October 15 will be a milestone for the ₹7,600 crore mega infrastructure project which is being implemented on a public-private partnership (PPP) model with funding from the state government, Centre, and the private partner Adani Ports Private Limited.

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 will be able to directly compete with neighborhood ports like Colombo in Sri Lanka, Jebel Ali in Dubai and Singapore for international transshipment needs.

“Vizhinjam International Seaport will attract the world’s attention on October 15 when it receives the first ship. This is a day of great happiness for both Kerala and India. The world’s biggest ships and vessels will be able to dock at Vizhinjam port with ease and comfort. There is a natural depth of 20 metres here which enables large vessels to come in without any difficulty. In other ports, large-scale dredging has to be done by spending crores of rupees,” Kerala’s ports minister Ahammed Devarkovil had said on Wednesday after inspecting the new berthing terminal at the Vizhinjam port.

Last month, the Kerala government had said that the port would welcome three more ships in October and November.