Keeping with the district’s status as a major fabrication hub, the Industry associations in the Tiruchi region has been emphasizing the need for the establishment of an inland container depot.
Capacity for up to seven lakh tonnes of fabrication activities per annum is available in Tiruchi, accounting for fifty percent of the requirement in the entire State. The major extent of exports in defense products will also have to be carried out in the future. This being the case, an inland container depot for Tiruchi is a necessity, Rajappa Rajkumar, president of BHEL Small Scale Industries Association, said.
In March, the BHELSIA and Tiruchi District Tiny and Small Scale Industries’ Association highlighted this demand at the export promotion meeting convened by the Engineering Export Promotion Council of India.
The Central Government, earlier this year, constituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee to act as a single window for clearance of proposals to set up dry ports/Inland Container Depot (ICDs)/Container Freight Stations (CFSs)/Air Freight Stations (AFSs).
Tiruchi currently holds the status of the Plant Quarantine Station for the Container Freight Stations in Tirupur, Salem, Coimbatore, and Singanallur.
There is another plant quarantine station in Tuticorin for the southern districts. Container Freight Stations in Minjur, Virugambakkam, Numbal, Tirujvottiyur, and Manali are served by the Regional Plant Qurantine Station, Chennai.
Meanwhile, the Export-Import Federation – Tiruchi (EIFT), has submitted a representation to the Chairman of V.O.C. Chidambaranar Port Trust, seeking speedy measures for the transshipment facility.
The president of EIFT Kanagasabapathy highlighting the difficulties faced by the exporters in Tiruchi during the pandemic time for shipping their products to their customers said that when India lifted the lockdown, Sri Lanka imposed curbs, and the shipping got affected. We are dependent on Colombo or Mundra Port in Gujarat. It costs more time and money,” he said.
As Tamil Nadu is a leading industrialized State, the transshipment facility will help in achieving the Chief Minister’s vision to become a one trillion dollar economy by 2030. Further, it will help exporters in the agriculture and engineering sectors in the region.
Similarly, a cargo facility in Tiruchi Airport to help air shipment exports from southern districts of Tamil Nadu will make the State more competitive in the export market.
The EIFT had written a similar letter seeking conversion of Tuticorin Port into a transshipment port for mother vessels to the Chief Minister’s Office last December.
