V. O. Chidambaranar Port (VOC Port) has showcased exemplary performance in containerised cargo operations, handling 5,81,557 TEUs in the current financial year up to December 2024, representing a growth of 7%, compared to the 5,43,531 TEUs handled during the same period in the previous year. Over the last decade, the port’s container handling has seen a steady rise, increasing from 5,07,735 TEUs in 2013-14 to 7,47,363 TEUs in 2023-24, reflecting its commitment to operational efficiency and capacity enhancement.
VOC Port has maintained its position as the top performer among major ports, with an exceptional Average Container Turnaround Time of 19.92 hours up to December 2024 in the ongoing financial year. The port has also ranked first in both the financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24, reinforcing its leadership in container handling efficiency. In addition, the terminals offer 30 container moves/hour at par with global standards.
With a combined capacity of 1.6 million TEUs per annum, the container terminals at VOC Port - Tuticorin International Container Terminal, Dakshin Bharat Gateway Terminals and PSA SICAL Container Terminal - cater to growing demand. The port is also supported by 2 Inland Container Depots and 15 Container Freight Stations in the vicinity, ensuring smooth container flow to and fro.
Sailings and facilitation
The terminals of the port operate eight sailings to Colombo every week. Additionally, it offers sailings to Mundra, Pipavav, Cochin, Jebel Ali, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, China and Far East countries, strengthening international trade connectivity.
The all-weather port, located close to the international sea route, operating 24x7, ensures seamless container handling with the support of congestion-free road & rail connectivity and seamless gate entry. The port prioritises time-sensitive cargo, ensuring prompt processing & delivery, and facilitates last-minute container connections before vessel sailing. With its ease of doing business initiatives, the IGST refunds are processed immediately on filing of IGST returns by the exporters.
Key projects to give a fillip
Given the thrust of the Government of India to become a 5 trillion economy, the emerging global geo-political scenario and upcoming developments in the primary and secondary hinterland of Tuticorin like Green Hydrogen Hub and other port-based industries at VOC Port lands, Offshore Wind Energy Hub along the coastal region of Tamil Nadu, industries all along the proposed Chennai-Kanyakumari Industrial Corridor, Solar Power Farms in Tuticorin, Tirunelveli and Ramanathapuram districts, Furniture Park and Vietnam-based EV car maker ‘Vinfast’ in SIPCOT Tuticorin, VOC Port is set to witness a massive growth in container traffic to the tune of around 4 to 5 million TEUs in a span of 3 to 5 years.
To cater to the exponential growth in container traffic, the port has proposed to develop an Outer Harbour, for which the Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, laid the foundation stone. The Outer Harbour will have two terminals of quay length 1 km each, draft of 16.5 metres, with capacity to handle 4 million TEUs. The tender has been floated and the port received encouraging support and interest from both global and domestic players. The tender is expected to close on February 11, 2025. Once completed, the project will significantly enhance the port’s capacity, enabling it to handle ships with larger drafts and improve its container handling efficiency.
Mr Susanta Kumar Purohit, IRSEE, Chairperson of VOC Port Authority, emphasised that the port holds immense potential to become a leading hub for gateway and transhipment container traffic on the East Coast. With its strategic location, evolving infrastructure development and collective commitment, VOC Port is poised to seize new opportunities in global trade, it highlighted in a release.