|By TAP Staff|Shreyas Shipping, leading coastal container operator and part of Transworld Group, which owns most number of container ships in India, has taken delivery of two more ships within three days.
Shreyas has thus added 37,597 GRT to Indian tonnage of its existing GRT of 98,696 to raise the total fleet strength to eight Indian flag container ships, Ramesh S. Ramakrishnan, Chairman of Transworld Group, said.
SSL Bharat of 29,383 GRT and 2,959 TEU capacity, which is one of the largest Indian flag container vessels, was delivered at Jebel Ali on 16th July, 2015 and SSL Chennai of 8,214 GRT and 700 TEU capacity became part of the fleet at Port-Kelang, Malaysia on 14th July 2015.
SSL Bharat will be deployed on the existing PIX2 service along with SSL Mumbai and SSL Gujarat on a weekly service frequency between Mundra – Tuticorin – Kattupalli – Vizag – Tuticorin – Cochin – Jebel Ali – Mundra. This container ship of 2959 TEU and 34769 DWT will be the largest container vessel operating on the Indian coast for domestic coastal trade, emphasising the company’s confidence about the prospects for growth of coastal shipping, and its commitment towards development of coastal shipping in India.
SSL Chennai will be deployed as a feeder support vessel for PIX2 service along with SSL SAGARMALA on the North -Eastern region on a service rotation of Vizag – Kolkata – Chittagong – Vizag. The service will cater to the trade requirement of coastal containerised cargo movement between India and Bangladesh as well as Exim transshipment through Vizag.
With the addition of these ships on the coastal service, Shreyas will be able to provide increased tonnage and better service frequency to customers by providing connectivity between all main container ports from Mundra up to Kolkata on a weekly basis, and also provide direct service from Chittagong, Kolkata, Vizag, Kattupalli ,Tuticorin and Cochin to Middle East thus avoiding transshipment of such cargo through Colombo.
Shreyas had announced earlier this year plans to acquire four container ships in a span of 18 to 24 months. With this fleet enhancement, two ships have now been acquired and two more ships are planned for acquisition in the next one year.
