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Business Standard
01-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
PM Modi to dedicate Vizhinjam International Seaport to nation Friday
Almost five months after starting commercial operations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate the Vizhinjam International Seaport to the nation on Friday. This comes at a time when Karan Adani, managing director, Adani Ports and SEZ, indicated that the group will invest ₹20,000 crore more in Vizhinjam Port, in addition to the already invested ₹5,000 crore. Based on an estimate, on an annual basis, the advantage due to this port will be to the tune of ₹2,500 crore. This is India's first transshipment hub and first deepwater container terminal. In July 2024, the port's operations officially kicked off when MV San Fernando, a vessel chartered by the world's second-largest shipping company, Maersk, arrived at the port. The commercial operations of Phase I of the project started in December 2024, and Phases II to IV of the project are likely to be over by December 2028. According to the detailed project report, Vizhinjam will be competing with Cochin and Tuticorin for its gateway containerised cargo; and with international ports like Colombo in Sri Lanka, Salalah in Oman, and Singapore for container transshipment traffic. During the first phase, the Vizhinjam Port will have the capacity to handle one million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs), and subsequent phases will see the addition of 6.2 million TEUs. The Vizhinjam International Port is hardly 11 nautical miles away from the international shipping channel. Nearly 30 per cent of the freight movement takes place through this international shipping route south of the Indian peninsula. It will be India's first international deepwater transshipment port. The port has a natural draft of more than 18 metres, scalable up to 20 metres. This makes it capable of hosting even the world's largest container ship. Around 75 per cent of India's transshipped cargo is handled by ports such as Colombo, Singapore, Salalah, Jebel Ali, Tanjung Pelepas, and Port Klang (in Malaysia). This will be routed to India once the transshipment hub is in place. According to the state government, out of the initial cost of ₹8,867 crore spent for the port project, the state government's contribution is ₹5,595 crore, while Adani Group's contribution will be ₹2,454 crore.
New Indian Express
26-04-2025
- Science
- New Indian Express
Kasturirangan gave SRV a science and technology boost
KOCHI: In the passing of eminent , the SRV High School in Kochi has lost an illustrious alumni. The school held a special place in his heart and he had always been in touch with the Old Students' Association (OSA) office-bearers to enquire about the activities happening there. 'Right from the launch of OSA in 2003, Kasturirangan had been actively associated with the efforts to improve his alma mater,' former SRV OSA president and Krishna Hospital director Dr A K Sabapathy tells TNIE. Kasturirangan joined SRV in Class 3, in 1947, he recalls. 'He did Classes 1 and 2 at a school in Tripunithura. He studied up to Class 5 in SRV and left for Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1950. I was in Class 9 then.' The former Isro chief had always said the schooling he had at SRV during his formative years played a great role in moulding his life, Dr Sabapathy says. For good measure, Kasturirangan decided to show his gratitude by setting up a Science and Technology Museum at the school. 'He got Rs 1 crore sanctioned from the MP fund (he was a Rajya Sabha member from 2003-09) and set up the museum to ensure that the students passing out from SRV would have developed a scientific temper. The museum was inaugurated in 2006 by the then President A P J Abdul Kalam,' Dr Sabapathy says. In an interview with TNIE during the 175th anniversary of the school, Kasturirangan had fondly remembered his SRV years as the most eventful. 'In our class, a few tables were kept apart for the members of the Cochin royal family. These boys used to come in a limousine and enter the class just a minute before the lessons. This was to keep a level of separation between the children of the royal family and the commoners,' Kasturirangan had reminisced. He had also mentioned a meeting with the Cochin Maharaja at a function during his stint as the chairman of ISRO. 'He too was a student around the time I was at SRV. We exchanged some very pleasant experiences of sharing the same class between royalty and commoners,' the space scientist had said. While he took a keen interest in the school's activities, he could not visit the institution often as he spent much of his time in Bengaluru, Dr Sabapathy points out. 'But SRV, which has produced many illustrious personalities over the years, held a very high place in his heart. We mourn his loss which has left a big void,' he said.
