V.O. Chidambaranar Port has showcased exemplary performance in containerized cargo operations, handling 5,81,557 TEUs in the current financial year up to December 2024, representing a growth of 7%, compared to the 5,43,531 TEUs handled during the same period in the previous year. Over the last decade, the Port’s container handling has seen a steady rise, increasing from 5,07,735 TEUs in 2013–14 to 7,47,363 TEUs in 2023–24, reflecting its commitment to operational efficiency and capacity enhancement.
VOC Port has maintained its position as the top performer among major ports, with an exceptional Average Container Turnaround Time of 19.92 hours up to December 2024 in the ongoing financial year. The Port has also ranked first in both the financial years 2022–23 and 2023–24, reinforcing its leadership in container handling efficiency. In addition, the terminals offer 30 container moves / hour at par with global standards. With a combined capacity of 1.6 million TEUs per annum, the container terminals at V.O. Chidambaranar Port, Tuticorin International Container Terminal, Dakshin Bharat Gateway Terminals, and PSA SICAL Container Terminal cater to growing demand.
The Port is also supported by 2 Inland Container Depots and 15 Container Freight Stations in the vicinity, ensuring smooth container flow to and from the Port. The terminals of the Port operate eight sailings to Colombo every week. Additionally, it offers sailing to Mundra, Pipavav, Cochin, Jebal Ali, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, China and far east countries, strengthening its international trade connectivity.
The all-weather Port, located close to the international sea-route, operating 24×7, ensures seamless container handling with the support of congestion-free road & rail connectivity, seamless gate entry.
The Port prioritizes time-sensitive cargo, ensuring prompt processing & delivery, and facilitates last-minute container connections before vessel sailing. With its ease of doing business initiatives, the IGST refunds are processed immediately on filing of IGST returns by the exporters. With the thrust given by Government of India to become a 5 trillion economy, emerging global geo-political scenario and upcoming developments in the primary and secondary hinterland of Tuticorin like Green Hydrogen hub and other port based industries at VOC Port lands, Offshore Wind Energy hub along the coastal region of Tamilnadu, industries all along the proposed Chennai Kanyakumari Industrial corridor, Solar Power farms in Tuticorin, Tirunelveli and Ramanathapuram districts, Furniture park and Vietnam based EV car maker ‘Vinfast’, in SIPCOT Tuticorin, VOC Port is set to witness a massive growth in container traffic to a tune of around 4 to 5 Million TEUs of containers in a span of 3 to 5 years from now. To meet the exponential growth of container traffic the Port has proposed to develop and Outer Harbour, for which the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, has laid the foundation stone. The Outer Harbour shall feature with two terminals with quay length of 1 Km each, draft of 16.5 metres, with a capacity to handle 4 million TEUs of container traffic. The tender has been floated and the Port has received encouraging support and interest from both the global and national players.
The tender is expected to close on 11th February 2025. Once completed, the project will significantly enhance the port’s capacity, enabling it to handle ships with larger drafts and improve the port’s container handling efficiency. Shri Susanta Kumar Purohit, IRSEE, Chairperson of VOC Port Authority, stated that VOC Port holds immense potential to become a leading hub for gateway and transhipment container traffic in the East coast of India. With its strategic location, evolving infrastructure development and collective commitment, we are poised to seize new opportunities in global trade.
