The Vizhinjam International Seaport, which generated a record revenue of ₹10 crore through facilitating crew exchange in less than two years, is now looking for providing bonded bunkering (supplying fuel to ocean-going ships) services for ships on international voyages.
Brightening the bunkering prospects of Vizhinjam, the first-ever bonded bunkering was carried out last week on a foreign tug called KIKI that called on the port to ship crawler cranes brought from Gujarat on a vessel to Maldives.
It is expected that the bonded bunkering service could improve the integrated service capacity of Vizhinjam port, which has emerged as a revenue source for the State government, amid the constraints of the paucity of tug boats and other infrastructure facilities. Though 719 vessels including container ships, tanker vessels, and gas tankers have used the facility for seafarers to sign off and sign in over the last two years, vessels opting for outer anchorage crew change off the Vizhinjam coast has recently come down significantly, affecting the revenue of the port. This was after the full swing operations of neighbouring ports after the Covid outbreak.
