Japanese car maker Honda is next in line to use the Ennore port for exports with the first shipment of nearly 400 vehicles expected to leave the port next week.
The company is already using a port in Gujarat on the west coast for exports, and will now test a port on the East Coast for the first time.
Honda will move its vehicles from its Gurgaon plant by road using car carriers and then ship it through the Ennore port for South Africa and Seychelles, according to a senior port official who did not wanted to be quoted. “We expect the first Honda shipment to be on April 17 or 18,” he said.
Recently Honda officials visited various ports, including Ennore, Karaikal and Chennai, for exports before zeroing on Ennore, which they said, was a ‘clean port,’ he said.
Other vehicle manufacturers such as Nissan, Toyota, Ford and Ashok Leyland are already using the port for exports.
According to sources in Ennore Port Ltd, recently Honda officials conveyed their plans to export around 400 cars in the first consignment. “They have given us a letter on using the port; we are ready to handle any volume,” said a senior port official who did not want to be quoted.
Increasing volume
The Ennore port handled a record 1,45,053 automobiles through the general cargo berth as against 1,25,000 vehicles in the previous year. The port is now handling almost half the volume of the Chennai port, which handled 2.75 lakh last financial year.
R Senthil Kumar, General Manager, EPL, said that port constructed the berth at a cost of Rs 140 crore. The berth was commissioned in January 2012 and can accommodate 8,000 cars. The berth has a car parking yard for 10,000 mid-size cars.
The port has the largest car parking yard in the country with provision to park around 12,000 at a time. With the growing demand for car exports, the port plans to construct another yard to accommodate nearly 3,000 cars, he said.