Date:02/03/2007 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/03/02/stories/2007030207860700.htm

Back Chennai box terminal handles 8.29 lakh TEUs

T.E. Raja Simhan

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Chennai March 1 Chennai Container Terminal (CCT) handled 8.29 lakh TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2006, registering an 18.42 per cent increase in volume over the previous year's seven lakh TEUs.

CCT took over the terminal from the Chennai port on November 30, 2001, when the annual handling was 3.50 lakh TEUs. It has so far invested more than $100 million (Rs 450 crore) to develop the terminal with equipment.

During 2006, Maersk was the top shipping line with a handling of 1.05 lakh TEUs and second was American President Line with a handling of 62,231 TEUs, according to CCT sources. In 2006, handling of tobacco boxes (mainly from Guntur in Andhra Pradesh) reduced to 4,588 (4,592). The terminal handled 2,151 tobacco boxes in 2004.

PSA-Sical creates record

In Tuticorin, the private container terminal PSA-Sical Terminals, a joint venture between PSA International and South India Corporation (Agencies) Ltd, handled 3.22 lakh TEUs in 2006, a 15.63 per cent increase over the previous year. This was the highest volume of containers handled in a year in the history of the port, according to the Tuticorin Port Trust.