INDIA and Japan proposes to
strengthen their cooperation in the shipping sector. In this connection a
delegation under the leadership of Union Minister of Shipping Mr G K Vasan, is
visiting Japan from today till the 12th this month on an invitation from Mr.
Akihiro Ohta, the Hon'ble Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and
Tourism of Government of Japan.
The visiting delegation will have
discussions with the Japanese Government for better coordination between two
countries and to further enable various Japanese companies to utilize facilities
at Indian Ports, more particular of Ennore and Chennai Ports. Mr Vasan will also
lead discussions for obtaining funding from the Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA) for the Outer Harbour project of VOC Port, Thuthikoodi.
The Government of Japan had earlier shown interest in developing Chennai
Bengaluru Industrial Corridor as part of Penninsular Region Industrial
Development corridor (PRIDe) of India. Ennore Port has been identified as one of
the main logistic hub in this industrial corridor development. JICA has already
commenced a study for the purpose.
The visiting Indian delegation
consists of Secretary (Shipping) Mr Vishwapati Trivedi, CMD of Ennore Port Ltd.,
Mr M.A. Bhaskarachar, and other officials of the Shipping Ministry. The
delegation besides meeting the political leaders, government officials and
business leaders during their visit, would be visiting the Port of Yokohama and
Port of Nagoya to see the port operations and the latest technologies being
utilized in these two Ports. Expertise of Japanese in port operations, ship
recycling and shipbuilding are expected to be utilized by the Indian ports and
shipyards in future.
Japanese automobile manufacturing companies like
Toyota, Mitsubushi, Isuzu, Nissan and Toshiba have been using Chennai Port for
importing automobile components through containers for their factories located
in Chennai. The Japanese Company M/s Metal One (Mitshubishi group) is importing
steel coils used for automobile through Chennai Port in the break bulk form.
Around 240 Japanese companies have developed businesses in and around Chennai in
the last decade.
Various Japanese Companies have also been evincing a
lot of interest in enhancing their use of the Ennore Port. At present, Nissan
Motors India and Toyota are the major Japanese Companies using the Ennore Port
facilities for their export. M/s Nissan Motors has exported about 3 lakhs cars
from Ennore Port. Toyota has so far exported 42,000 cars from the Port.
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