The Zhen Hua 15, a massive Chinese vessel carrying huge container-handling cranes, arrived at the Vizhinjam International Seaport,  developed by the Adani Group, on Thursday

Shenhua 15 was received with a water salute.  It arrived at Vizhinjam port after completing a one-and-a-half month journey. Before reaching Vizhinjam, the ship made a stopover at Mundra port in Gujarat to offload cranes. It reached the outer waters of Vizhinjam on Wednesday.

Kerala is hoping that the Vizhinjam port will become a crucial presence in India’s cargo movement and Thiruvananthapuram  will  emerge as the next global port city.

Union Minister for Ports Sarbananda Sonowal and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will officially receive the ship at a ceremony held at Vizhinjam on October 15. With Vizhinjam becoming a reality, huge mother ships can anchor right off the Indian coast.

The port, which situates near Thiruvananthapuram, is being built at a projected cost of Rs 7,700 crore and  is expected to be commissioned by May next year.   It is being constructed under the public-private partnership model.

Once  the port becomes operational, it will allow huge mother ships to be anchored on the Indian coast. On commissioning, the port will be able to anchor two mother ships at a time, each of which can carry 15,000 to 20,000 containers

The project, which was scheduled to be commissioned in 2019, got delayed due to several issues. In 2022, the construction works were stalled following the intense agitation by the fish workers of the region, primarily members of the Latin Catholic community.

Despite several challenges, including the Ockhi cyclone, protests by the local fishermen community, the Covid pandemic, and the shortage of raw materials, including boulders, the authorities managed to keep the project up and running.

The works related to dredging, and construction of buildings ,infrastructure for port operations and  container berth construction are continuing at a fast pace- The construction of the container berth is almost complete while yard berth construction has reached 34 per cent.