The Hindu
MANGALORE, May 5: Main Line container vessel from Port Benin in West Africa, m.v. CMA CGM Okume, called at the New Mangalore port here on Sunday, marking the beginning of main line vessel calls for 2009-10 at the port.
The vessel, berthed with a draft of 11.4 metre at deep draft berth number 14, started unloading 512 boxes of raw cashew for distribution among cashew processing units in and around Mangalore.
S. Gopalakrishna, traffic manager of NMPT, said in a press release here that the advantage of main line vessel directly calling at the port was the saving in transit time and handling cost.
It would take only 23 days between Mangalore and West Africa whereas vessels passing through Colombo took 40 days, he said.
Chairman of NMPT P. Tamilvannan said that the increased number of main line vessels calling at the port had resulted in upward growth of container traffic here. A record 4,816 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units or 95,087 tonnes) raw cashew was handled in 2008-09 compared to 3,591 TEUs (69, 850 tonnes) of 2007-08.