KOCHI: In an effort to attract more ships to dock in Kochi, the Cochin Port Trust has decided to offer 50 per cent discount to vessels calling at the port exclusively for bunkering purpose. The discount will be given on port charges, berth hire and pilotage to ships calling at the port. “It’s definitely going to be attractive for vessels calling for bunkers only at the Cochin port. Also, the vessels will be given priority. If these are done, we can attract more vessels to Kochi. It’s going to be an advantage for us also,” said a BPCL official. The BPCL supplies bunkers in Kochi. With the port developing two SEZs at Vallarpadom and Puthuvypeen, and some mega projects like International Container Transshipment Terminal, Petronet LNG Terminal and Cruise Terminal coming up, Kochi holds tremendous potential for bunkering. Also, the port’s proximity to international sea routes will attract big vessels. The vessel traffic at the port has gone up from 1,082 in the 2008-09 fiscal to 1,278 in 2009-10, which is about 18 percentage of growth.As part of its effort to boost bunker trade, the state government had announced concessions in sales tax for sale of fuel and lubricants in September 2010. The sales tax has been reduced to 0.5 percentage. The annual volume of bunkering in Kochi is to the tune of around 40 TMT, out of which a major contribution comes from duty paid bunkers supplied to Navy and Coast Guard. “Due to its strategical position, Kochi can be developed as a major destination for bunkering and other ship-related charges. Now with the reduced charges, vessels coming to the port for bunkering purposes only will have to shell out only $28 (US) per metric tonne instead of $55 -- the earlier charge,” officials said.
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