Asia/Pacific News
Port of Kochi Looks to Continue Bunkering Business Expansion
India's Port of Kochi is once again looking to boost its bunkering business, according to local media reports.
Specifically, the port is said to be reaching out to petroleum companies in order to develop tank farms to support the bunkering expansion.
The latest efforts revolve around proposed facilities to handle cotton in a bid to attract business away for the neighbouring port of Colombo in Sri Lanka.
"We are in the process of floating EOI offering facilities to set up tanks farms in the 24 acre land at Puthuvypeen," said Port chairman P Raveendran.
Kochi is reported to have seen a 22 percent growth in its bunkering services last year.
Boosting the southern port’s bunker business is certainly not a new ambition; in 2014 Director General of Shipping Gautam Chatterjee said the port and state authorities had streamlined procedures for bunker sales and were aiming to triple bunker sales to some 400,000 metric tonnes (mt) per annum over the following three years.
