Port will receive the ship on Oct. 25
KOZHIKODE: The first container ship, arriving tentatively on October 25 from Gujarat’s Kandla port with 50 containers of tiles, will call at Beypore port after continuous efforts for at least six months.
“The discussions with the tile dealers, traders and the Mumbai-based shipping company was successful. We are trying to ferry cement and fertilizer too through the sea,” port officer Capt Ashwin Prathap K. said.
“Currently, tiles to Malabar, mainly to Kozhikode and Malappuram districts, are coming through the Cochin port. If they come to Beypore, it will be a win-win situation for both dealers and the port.”
Authorities hope to get 200 containers, weighing 25 to 28 tonnes, a month from two trips. No container vessel has reached Beypore port, except an empty one came on a trial basis two years ago.
Beypore is one of the oldest ports of Kerala that once used to receive West Asia spice traders.
It is also famous for building dhows, usually bought by Arab merchants for trading, fishing and now used as tourist ships.
Capt Prathap said elaborate arrangements were planned to receive the maiden container ship.
