In International Shipping News 04/05/2015
A new container service connecting the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East will be launched in May as Evergreen Line and Simatech Shipping have reached a vessel-sharing agreement, according to the Oman International Container Terminal (OICT).
The weekly loop, branded the Chennai-Colombo-Gulf Service, or CCG, will employ four vessels of around 2,000 20-foot-equivalent units’ capacity, OICT sources informed Times of Oman.
OICT is the gateway for international trade in Oman a hub for regional transshipment traffic. It is a joint-venture between global port investor, developer and operator Hutchison Port Holdings Limited (HPH), the government of the Sultanate of Oman, Steinweg of Netherlands and a number of other well-established Omani Investors.
The port rotation for CCG will be Colombo, Sri Lanka; Vizakhapatnam, Krishnapatnam and Chennai, India; Colombo; Cochin, India; Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates; Sohar, Oman; Cochin and back to Colombo.
The first CCG vessel is expected to depart from Colombo on May 9. The new service will help further push the move of subcontinental ports to Sohar.
“In addition to providing efficient transportation services linking the major ports of southern India and Sri Lanka with the gulf, this important intra-regional service will also connect to Evergreen’s global service network via its transshipment hub in Colombo,” Evergreen said in a trade advisory.
Founded in 2005, OICT is located inside the Port of Sohar and is equipped with advanced container handling facilities. These together with an 18 metre draft enable it to serve the latest generation of mega-vessels.
The Port of Sohar is strategically located outside the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf of Oman, approximately 200 kilometres from Muscat and 160 kilometres from Dubai with extensive road system and rail connections planned for the near future.
OICT is committed to the development of its facilities to ensure it can handle the region’s growing cargo volumes. OICT’s Terminal C currently has a capacity of 800,000 TEU per annum which is set to increase to 1.5 million TEU per annum. Upon completion of Terminal D, OICT’s capacity will be increased to 6 million TEU per annum.
In the third-quarter of last year, OICT invested $14 million in additional equipment and labor. The increase brought its total equipment count to 7 quay cranes, 22 rubber-tyred gantry cranes and 14 reach stackers. An additional 200 people were hired last year for the new Terminal C facilities. OICT puts a strong emphasis on the development and growth of its staff through continuous training, for example in Hong Kong where they study best-in-class practices at HPH’s headquarters.
The investment in leading edge systems and technology gives OICT the highest level of operational efficiency. The Next Generation Terminal Management system (nGen) that OICT uses is a modular, scalable terminal-management platform that controls the entire scope of operations including ship and yard planning, gate operations, vessel operations and interactions, yard configuration and performance, overall operations monitoring, equipment utilisation, productivity and cost optimisation. Using powerful algorithms, nGen offers the most precise and efficient operating solution to OICT’s customers.
