CSLA flag facing holdups at Vizhinjam Port

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The newly opened Vizhinjam Port gears up to handle more number of ships, the (CSLA)Container Shipping Lines Association (India) has highlighted some challenges faced by its member lines that pose impediments in vessel operations in the port.

They cited the absence of an Immigration Check Post (ICP) at Vizhinjam as a major operational barrier and have not been encountered at other ports in India.  The absence of ICP disallows the lines from arranging crew changes, providing essential victualing services, supplies, ship spares, and bunkers for vessels calling at Vizhinjam. This limitation also restricts local business growth and services tied to vessels calling at the port, CSLA said in a letter to the Shipping Secretary.

Due to lack of ICP, vessels with crew members of Pakistani nationality are not permitted to call at Vizhinjam Port. Most of the international carrier vessels have mixed-nationality crews. Even if only 1 or 2 crew members are Pakistani nationals, the vessels are not permitted, thereby forcing the lines to cancel the vessel call at Vizhinjam Port. This significantly impacts the planning, container volumes, and consistency of service patterns at Vizhinjam port, CSLA said.

Each time a vessel arrives at Vizhinjam Port, the procedures mandate the local office of the concerned shipping line to send an email to the jurisdictional FRRO office, to request permission by mentioning specific names of crew members required to disembark on the pier to perform essential vessel related tasks, such as draft checks and securing the gangway etc. This added administrative requirement sometimes leaves vessels short of crew for crucial tasks which cannot be performed without stepping down on the quay.

For vessel arrival and departure clearance, the lines are required to send a photograph of all the crew members standing together to the local FRRO office. This requirement is unique to Vizhinjam Port and not mandated at any other port in India. Given these operational challenges, CLSA requested the Ministry’s assistance in facilitating the process to grant ICP status to Vizhinjam Port.

Shipping lines have been transferring their transhipment container volumes from Colombo to Vizhinjam, thereby making about 180 vessel calls and handling approximately 400,000 TEUs since its inception.

The deployment of Customs officers are pending, despite the port being operational for 8 months. For arrival of vessels, the lines have to initiate the Customs clearance process with the Thiruvananthapuram Customs Office, at least 4 days in advance, in a manual format. This unique manual process, unlike other ports, requires Thiruvananthapuram Customs to send vessel arrival documents to Cochin Customs for approval. With almost two vessels calling Vizhinjam Port daily, this cumbersome process poses significant operational challenges, including delays.