International Container Transshipment Terminal, Great Nicobar Island

The Great Nicobar Island International Container Transshipment Terminal, also known as Galathea Bay Transhipment Port is a deep-water container transshipment terminal proposed to be constructed at Galathea Bay in Nicobar Islands in the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It will be the second deep water container transshipment terminal in India after the Vizhinjam International Seaport, Thiruvananthapuram. Once completed, the port is expected to surpass the international trans-shipment terminal at Kochi^[1]

Background

Experts have long maintained that there is a compelling economic case for establishing a transshipment hub in India that can draw regional and domestic transhipment traffic away from the existing hubs, save significant revenue loss, improve logistics for Indian trade, lower risks to the nation's export competitiveness, and give India the chance to grow into a significant hub for transhipment of container traffic between Asia and Africa and Asia and the US and Europe. Currently, ports outside of India handle roughly 75% of the transhipped cargo from India. More than 85% of this cargo is handled at Colombo, Singapore, and Klang, with 45% of it handled at the Colombo Port.^[2] Although the under construction Vizhinjam Port is a mega-transshipment port, it is expected to mainly handle the cargo movement of the western side of India. The construction of Galathea Bay Port at the eastern side of the country is further expected to provide additional benefits such as currency savings, foreign direct investment, higher economic activity at other Indian ports, improved logistical infrastructure and hence efficiencies, job creation, and increased revenue share.^[3]

Port development

The proposed port is expected to cost ₹41,000 crore and will be developed in total across four phases. Phase 1 is scheduled to begin operation in 2028 with a handling capacity of approximately 4 million TEUs, rising to 16 million TEUs in the final phase of development. The construction of breakwaters, dredging, reclamation, berths, storage areas, buildings, utilities, equipment procurement and installation, and the development of a port colony with core infrastructure are all included in the estimated cost of Phase 1 of the project, which is approximately ₹18,000 crore.^[4]

Characteristics

The project is considered important because to its strategic closeness (40 nautical miles from the Malacca Strait) to the International trade route and the presence of transhipment facilities in Singapore, Klang, and Colombo. Additionally, the availability of naturally occurring water depths of more than 20 metres and the potential to handle transhipment goods from all the nearby ports, including domestic ones, are expected to make India a significant hub for Asia-African and Asia-US/European container traffic trade.^[5]

The phase one of the project includes two breakwaters, a 400-meter wide channel for navigation, an 800-meter turning circle, a total of seven berths at a length of around 2.3 km, a container yard with 125 ha, equipment for handling containers, including RMQCs and RTGs, and the option to build two berths for liquid cargo.^[6]

Finance and administration

The Indian government intends to build the port under the landlord model, in which the publicly run port authority serves as both a landlord and a regulatory body, and private enterprises handle port operations, mostly cargo-handling tasks. The port will continue to be owned by the government, but private companies will be leased the infrastructure so they can maintain their own superstructures and set up their own cargo handling equipment. The landlord is compensated with a portion of the money made by the private company.^[7]

See also

• Great Nicobar Island Development Project

• Vizhinjam International Seaport, Thiruvananthapuram
• International Container Transshipment Terminal, Kochi

References