The meeting focused on strengthening coordination, improving operational efficiency, facilitating cargo growth and further enhancing the ease of doing business at the port.
Chairperson of the V. O. C. Port Authority Susanta Kumar Purohit, who chaired the meeting, highlighted the Port’s infrastructure capabilities, recent achievements, ongoing development initiatives and future plans. He also emphasised the increasing adoption of the technology and AI-enabled applications across Port operations.
At the meeting container terminal operators were informed that efforts were being made to introduce mainline vessel services to Thoothukudi in the coming months, thereby strengthening the direct connectivity with key markets in Europe and the United States.
Mr. Purhoit highlighted the Integrated Incentive Scheme 2026-2028, which offers eligible concessions of up to 90% to support the introduction of such services.
Emphasising the importance of sustained engagement with trade and industry, Mr. Purohit said that coordinated efforts among the port authority, port users, terminal operators and concerned agencies would be crucial to increasing the cargo volumes, strengthening vessel connectivity and improving the overall competitiveness of the V. O. C. Port.
During the meeting, T. Ramesh, senior deputy traffic manager informed the port users about the upcoming additional truck parking terminal proposed over an area of around 50,000 sq metres near the Port link road. He added that the facility is expected to improve the truck movement and provide additional infrastructure for efficient cargo aggregation and evacuation.
Rajesh Soundararajan, deputy chairperson, Kingston Neel Durai, deputy conservator, A. Ramasamy, chief mechanical engineer and other officials were present.