Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A has recently started a feeder service connecting the Haldia Dock Complex of Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port Authority (SMPK), Kolkata with the container transshipment terminal at Vizhinjam in Kerala.
The feeder service will run every ten days, reducing dependence on Colombo Port for sending and receiving containers. It will halt at Paradip Port enroute to Vizhinjam. The service will get a 20 per cent concession in vessel-related charges (port dues, berth hire, towage and pilotage charges) introduced by SMPK from May 2024 if the container ship loads 601-1,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU’s) per call and 30 per cent discount for loading 1,001 TEU’s and above on a single call. Valid for two years, the concession is given to container feeder vessels under foreign run, plying between Haldia Dock Complex and foreign transshipment ports of Colombo, Singapore, Port Klang and any Indian transshipment ports.