Vasan-led team heads to Japan to promote Indian ports

Chennai: Indian ports hope to work with their counterparts in Japan to increase capacity utilisation here.

G. K. Vasan, Union Shipping Minister, will lead a delegation to Japan to discuss with the Government and business community there for increased utilisation of Indian ports, especially Chennai and Ennore.

He will be in Japan from November 7 to 12 at the invitation of Akihiro Ohta, Minister of Land, Infrastructure Transport and Tourism, Japan.

The delegation members include Vishwapati Trivedi, Shipping Secretary, and M.A. Bhaskarachar, Chairman, Ennore Port Ltd (EPL). The delegation will visit ports of Yokohama and Nagoya to explore operations and technologies in these two ports. The Minister will hold discussions with Japanese funding agency JICA to fund the Outer Harbour project of VOC port, Tuticorin, according to a press release issued by EPL.

There are around 240 Japanese companies, including Toyota, Mitsubushi, Isuzu, Nissan, Toshiba and Metal One, located in and around Chennai.

The Japanese Government has also expressed interest in developing the Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor, as part of the Penninsular Region Industrial Development.

Ennore port has been identified as a main logistic hub in industrial corridor development. JICA has already commenced the study, the release said.