Green Freight Corridor service, operated by Round The Coast, has started its coastal shipping service connecting Kochi Port to Beypore and Azhikkal ports in Kerala.
Union Minister of State for Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Mansukh Mandaviya, inaugurated the loading operation on the maiden voyage at a virtual event on 29 June 2021.
The operators have deployed a River Sea Vessel MV Hope Seven with a draft of 3.2 mtr for this service. The vessel has a designed capacity of 106 TEUs and can carry 50-60 TEUs of laden containers and has 20 reefer plug points.
The vessel will call at Kochi twice a week, and feeder exim and coastal boxes to the ports of Beypore and Azhikkal. JM Baxi is the general agent for the service.
The commodities that will be shipped would include rice, wheat, salt, construction material, sanitary wares, and cement, unloaded at Kochi from Gujarat.
On the return leg, the operators are targeting to move exim cargo such as plywood, footwear, textiles, coffee. Similarly the imported cashew containers will also be moved from Kochi to Kollam at a later stage.