Cochin Port Starts Shipping Cars: Boost To Major Car Manufacturers

Taking the next step towards maximising India’s coastal trade potential, the Cochin port kicked off the transportation of vehicles as the MV Dresden carrier ship set sail from the Kerala town with 500 cars recently. 

The Ministry of Shipping said in a statement, "The car carrier has circuit of Ennore-Cochin-Kandla-Cochin-Ennore, connecting the automobile production hubs in Tamil Nadu in the east coast and Gujarat and Haryana in the west of India. The ship has 13 decks with the capacity to carry 4,300 cars."

This news would be music to the ear of manufacturers such as Renault, Hyundai, Toyota and Ford, who have manufacturing facilities in southern India, as movement of cars from production facilities to warehouses/dealerships is dominated by massive trucks plying on congested roads. 

The port is even offering rebates in port charges, in advance, towards attracting the business; concessional wharfage of Rs 500 per car and Rs 900 per truck, and 50 per cent rebate in the notified Vessel Related Charges.

While MV Dresden is a foreign carrier of Cyprus registration, the port’s domestic Roll-on-Roll-off (Ro-Ro) ship operator is the Chennai-based SICAL Logistics that already deals in large coal shipments. 

"The (Ro-Ro ship) operator will be carrying the vehicles of Renault, Ford, Hyundai and Toyota from Tamil Nadu and Honda and Ford from Gujarat. The operator is also targeting Maruti. The steamer agent of the car carrier at Cochin is Neo Logistics," the statement added.

This move is a part of the Ministry of Shipment’s renewed strategy for enhancing coastal trade, which saw discount rates at ports being hiked to 80 per cent for shipping cars on Ro-Ro ships recently. 

After a failed long-term partnership to transport cars with Hyundai earlier this year, the government is leaving no stone unturned to make the most of this opportunity to join forces with the country’s fast-growing automobile fraternity.