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The Kochi port is to continue with the 50 per cent rebate on pilotage/berth rates offered to vessels coming in on exclusive bunker calls. This will mainly benefit ships which call to fill up with furnace oil.
The extension of concession was granted in order to position Kochi as a competitive bunker facility vis-a-vis Colombo.
Proximity
The concession, therefore, is of strategic nature especially in view of the proximity of Kochi to the trunk routes, senior port officials said.
The Board of Trustees has decided to extent the concession till March 2013. The concession will also be available to SPM vessels shifting to berth after completion of operations.
According to port officials, the Kerala Government had recently reduced the tax on bunker to foreign going vessels to 0.50 per cent, which has made the bunker prices at Kochi very competitive. This has provided an opportunity to the stakeholders in bunker supply and related sales.
Therefore, it was proposed that the concession in the existing form may be continued for one more year, the officials said, adding that BPCL-KR had also requested for continuing the concession in order to maintain the momentum attained in the bunker trade.
The predominant mode of supplying bunkers is through barges to vessels at the outer anchorage.
However, the vessels need to berth during the monsoons for taking bunkers, the officials said.
Sources in the shipping fraternity pointed out that there has been a significant jump in vessels calls at Kochi anchorage for ‘bunkers only calls' from October last year after the grant of concessions by the port management. Kochi has the potential to become a premier bunkering port given the geographical proximity to West Asia to Far East shipping routes.
Currently, most of the bunkering services are carried out in Sri Lanka, Singapore and Dubai.
demand outlook
The demand outlook in Kochi is pretty robust with volumes expected to touch one lakh tonnes next year. The bonded fuel oil price in Kochi Port is highly competitive and it is lower around $30-40 a tonne in comparison to Colombo Port.
With the bunkering trade at Kochi expected to grow, more international bunker traders are expected to enter the market.
The bunkering trade in Kochi will witness a significant growth with the support given by the Kerala Government and the port management, the sources said.
Of late, the state owned Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation had also forayed into bunkering business by chartering a vessel with a capacity of 1,000 tonnes.
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