GALEX SERVICE TO START FROM ICTT

A new Vessel Service -GALEX to start from ICTT from next week. Galex, a consortium of Emirates Shipping Line, KMTC, RCL and Hanjin, will be operating 7,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) vessels, which is expected to provide adequate capacity to the trade in this region. The Service will start with the arrival of  Vessel PETROHUE

Besides Kochi, the vessel will call on the ports of Pusan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Chiwan, Singapore, Port Klang, Nhava Sheva, Mundra and Jebel Ali.Shipping circles expects the new service, which starts from Korea, to provide competitive transit time and comprehensive networks.

The terminal, which commenced operations four years ago, has been struggling to get transhipment cargo. Galex becomes the first Far East carrier service to call at Kochi, creating feeder connectivity to the west coast, the sources said.

With the addition of the Galex service, there will be a total of four direct services with West Asia. The service is expected to help the effort to divert the Indian cargo going to Colombo, the source said.From Jebel Ali, the back haul route goes directly to Port Klang and Hong Kong, and ends at Pusan and in future there is a chance of Stoppage in Kochi.  With the Galex service, on the one hand, Kochi will return into the fray with a focused approach on transshipment, and become a state-of-the-Art transshipment hub. On the other hand, Galex is the first ever Far East carrier service to embrace Kochi, creating feeder connectivity to the East Coast,”

However, for Kochi Port, the new service also means additional expenses on dredging. The Port has already started maintenance dredging in the ICTT berth basin to increase the draft, as the 300 metre vessel needs a water depth of 14.5 metre.

With this service, Vallarpadam seems to be coming back into a focussed approach on transhipment.