M.S. Balani, Traffic Manager of New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT), said here that this is the highest export loading in a mainline vessel at New Mangalore Port.

He said that the mainline container vessel of Pacific International Lines (PIL) – m.v. Hans Pepenburg - from East Africa, which called at New Mangalore Port on Monday, commenced unloading of 247 containers of raw cashew for distribution among various cashew processing units situated in and around Mangalore.

“The vessel while sailing back to East Africa, en-route Singapore, will load 250 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of export containers with cargoes such as fishmeal, fish oil, granite and plywood towards Far East, China, Bangladesh, Taiwan, Korea, and Africa,” he said.

Seamaster Shipping Logistics of the Seaways Group) was the agent of the vessel and Delta Marine Logistics Ltd was the stevedores.

P. Tamilvanan, Chairman of NMPT, said that this is the result of the marketing efforts by NMPT. “From a humble beginning with one mainline vessel during 2007-08, now it is the 31st mainline vessel calling at the port,” he said.

The advantage of mainline container vessel directly calling at the port is the reduced transit time and economical handling cost, he said. Mainline vessels from East Africa take only 9-10 days to reach Mangalore. The duration will be nearly 28 days, if the cargo is brought via Colombo.

Source: The Hindu Business Line