Tuticorin takes new look at hub status

The so-called Portalino is being operated by Fertimport, the state’s leading grain handling stevedore. Following a trial period, the unloader has been able to achieve handling rates of 300 tonnes per hour, three times that previously reported in the port using either fixed and/or mobile pneumatic unloaders.

PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young have been short-listed by the Tuticorin Hub Port Development Council for a $45,000 contract to undertake a feasibility study focused on converting Tuticorin into a hub port to serve South Asia. Previous studies have highlighted the lack of draught, which needs upgrading from 10.7m to at least 13m in order to attract transhipment vessels in sizeable numbers.