Kottayam Port and Container Terminal (KPCT) is the first minor port and Inland Container Depot (ICD) using Inland waterways Kerala state, situated in Nattakom, on the banks of

Kodoor river Kodoor River is a river between the Kottayam and Alappuzha district of Kerala state, South India. Kodoor River has a long history with the old trading routes between the coastal district Alapuzha and the eastern villages of Kottayam. There was ...

in National Waterway 9. This is also India's first port and ICD to use inland waterway with Customs notified area for Exports & Imports. The port integrates multi-mode freight traffic between Kochi Port and a vast hinterland of

Kottayam district Kottayam (), is one of 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala. Kottayam district comprises six municipal towns: Kottayam, Changanassery, Pala, Erattupetta, Ettumanoor, and Vaikom. It is the only district in Kerala that neither borders the A ...

Pathanamthitta district Pathanamthitta District (), is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala. The district headquarters is in the town of Pathanamthitta. There are four municipalities in Pathanamthitta: Adoor, Pandalam, Pathanamthitta and Thiruvalla ...

and Idukki district. This is a gateway port for

Kottayam Kottayam () is a municipal town in the Indian state of Kerala. Flanked by the Western Ghats on the east and the Vembanad Lake and paddy fields of Kuttanad on the west. It is the district headquarters of Kottayam district, located in south- ...

. It is connected to

Cochin Port Cochin Port or Kochi Port is a major port on the Arabian Sea – Laccadive Sea – Indian Ocean sea-route in the city of Kochi and is one of the largest ports in India. It is also the first transshipment port in India. The port lies on t ...

by road and by an inland waterway through

Vembanadu Lake Vembanad is the longest lake in India, as well as the largest lake in the state of Kerala. The lake has an area of 230 square kilometers and a maximum length of 96.5 km. Spanning several districts in the state of Kerala, it is known as Ve ...

at a distance of 85 Kilometers. The operation of port is based on multimodal transportation concept. The containers sealed by customs are shipped to stack points at Cochin Port using

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

. The port is situated approximately 5 km south of

town and 1.5 km west of

Main Central Road The Main Central Road, better known as MC Road is the arterial State Highway starting from Kesavadasapuram in Trivandrum city and ends at Angamaly, a suburb of Kochi city in Ernakulam District, in the state of Kerala, India. It is designated ...

History

KPCT is a joint venture of Kottayam based young entrepreneurs and KINFRA 49 per cent stake held by the Kinfra and the rest 51 per cent by the industry, NRIs and others. The construction of dry port commenced in 2006 and the port was inaugurated on 17 August 2009 by Minister for Industries,

Kerala Government Government of Kerala is the subnational government of the Indian state of Kerala. The government is led by a chief minister, who selects all the other ministers. The chief minister and their most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision ...

Shri.

Elamaram Kareem Elamaram Kareem (born 1 July 1953) is an Indian politician, trade unionist, and a member of Communist Party of India (Marxist). He is currently a Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha. He was the Minister for Industries & Commerce in the Left De ...

. The port remained inactive for next four years and the barge at port that was lying idle was rented to Travancore Cements. In January 2013 the port officially received mini port status till then it was called Kottayam Depot or dry dock. In November 2016 after receiving back the rented barge trial run was conducted with it by carrying 6 Trans Asia containers between Kochi port and Kottayam. The port received its first container cargo through barge from Kochi on 9 March 2019. The cargo contained consignments of TJP Rubber Industries and Diamond Flour Mills based at Kottayam. It is estimated that during the financial year 2018- 19, Kottayam port handled around 1737 TEU ( 20-foot Equivalent Unit) containers and collected a customs duty of ₹12.93 crore. The foreign exchange earned was ₹21 crore.

Facilities

The port has a capacity to handle barges of 10 TEU. The jetty has berthing facility for barges measuring 50×12 m. It has a 40,000 Sqft Warehouse for export, import and hazardous goods and computerised management of freight. It is situated in a land area of 10 acres. The port has a Reach stacker and customs clearance facility.

External links

Kottayam Port and Container Terminal website

References

Kottayam Inland Container Depot and Mini Port
The Minister for Industries & Commerce, Government of Kerala Ports and harbours of Kerala Transport in Kottayam district Buildings and structures in Kottayam district {{India-transport-stub

History

Facilities

See also

External links

References