Kochi: LOTS Shipping Ltd, India's premier inland water transport company, is entering coastal shipping with M V Beypore Sultan, the first indigenously built Type IV river sea container vessel in the country.
The ship built at the company-owned yard at Edakochi called Master Shipyard Pvt Ltd is capable of carrying 81 TEUs (Twenty Foot Equivalent units). It is being launched into the water on November 2. The coastal shipping is expected to benefit exporters and importers from the hinterland of minor ports in Kerala such as Beypore, Azhikkal, Thangassery, Vizinjam, Mangalore and Tuticorin apart from reducing the pressure on roads.
Capt Philip Mathews, managing director, Lots Shipping said that M V Beypore Sultan is the first river sea type IV container vessel to be introduced in the West Coast of India. The vessel will carry containers from Mangalore to Kochi at a lower cost. "There will be a savings of 30 to 35 % in the cost of cargo movement if river sea vessels are employed", he said.
Lots Shipping will be add 10 more vessels to its fleet in the next 3 years. The cost of a container cargo vessel would be above Rs 15 crore whereas the case of river sea container vessel was built at a cost of Rs 12 crore only, company spokesmen said. This will be brought down further to Rs 10 crore per vessel in the coming days.
The Type IV river sea vessel is an all weather vessel that can go any port in the country. The M V Beypore Sultan is the first such vessel being built as the India river sea rules announced in 2008. As the service is being provided at a reduced rate the relaxation of Cabotage law will not affect the company, Capt. Philip Mathews said.
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