The cashew sector in Karnataka recently reached a milestone by importing 1 lakh tonnes of raw cashew nuts through New Mangalore Port during the current financial year, recording a growth of nearly 30 per cent over the previous year. One of the main reasons for this growth is the calling of the mainline container vessels at New Mangalore Port from the East and West African countries.
As many as four mainline container vessels called at the port during the financial year and two more are expected to call in the days to come. The first mainline container vessel of the financial year – m.v. CMA CGM Okume – came from Port Benin in West Africa on May 3 and unloaded 512 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) containers of raw cashews at New Mangalore for the cashew processing units.
In December two more mainline vessels called at the port. On December 15, m.v. Kota Nabil of Pacific International Lines unloaded 139 TEUs of raw cashew from the Port Mtwara at New Mangalore. The third mainline container vessel – m.v. Elisa Delmas belonging to CMA CGM – called at New Mangalore Port on December 22 with 112 TEUs of raw cashew nut. The fourth mainline vessel – m.v. Leo Mono – of Pacific International Lines with 202 TEUs of raw cashew cargo from Port Mtwara called at the New Mangalore Port on January 7.
Import Share
Cashew processing units in Karnataka imported 1.05 lakh tonnes of raw cashew nuts in the first nine months of the financial year as against 80,666 tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, whereas the port imported around 95,087 tonnes of raw cashew during 2008-09 as against 69,850 tonnes in 2007-08. The mainline vessels contributed a significant share to the import of raw cashew nuts.
Expressing happiness at the calling of more and more mainline container vessels at New Mangalore, Mr K. Prakash Rao, one of the importers, told Business Line that the number of mainline vessels calling at Mangalore is set to increase in the days to come. Cashew processing units in the region are expecting raw cashew imports from Benin, Ivory Coast and Mozambique.
Mr Praveen Kumar Bangera, Senior Manager of Seaways Group, Mangalore, said that two more mainline voyages are planned during January. (Sea Master Shipping and Logistics Pvt Ltd of Seaways Group is the agent for PIL for handling mainline vessels in Mangalore.)
Far East
The cashew import season from December to February attracts more mainline vessels to Mangalore. It is the right time for exporters to take benefit of direct sailing of export commodities to Far East and African countries, he said.
The calling of mainline container vessels during the cashew import season in the last two years seems to have instilled confidence among the exporters also. This was evident during the fourth calling of the mainline vessel at the port, where the vessel got a significant quantity of export cargo to Far Eastern countries.
Taking advantage of less freight and transit time, some exporters loaded fish meal, fish oil and granites in the fourth calling of the mainline container vessel Mr Bangera said, and hoped that this momentum would continue in future also.
Mr S. Gopalakrishna, Traffic Manager of New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT), said that the calling of the mainline container vessel has helped exporters to get the benefit of 50 per cent savings in freight charges compared with feeder vessels.
More to come
Mr P. Tamilvanan, Chairman of NMPT, said that two more mainline vessels – m.v. Kota Nazrat and m.v. Kota Arif – are expected to call at New Mangalore Port on January 14 and 20. Exporters from the region can take benefit of reduction in freight and transit time with these voyages, he said.
Container cargo has been witnessing growth in the recent years with regular feeder vessels and seasonal mainline container vessels calling at the port. The port handled 23,153 TEUs of container cargo in the first nine months of the financial year as against 22,752 in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
Source : Business Line