The Hindu : Kerala News : German firm to prepare Kochi port business plan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 07, 2006

Kerala

Kerala

German firm to prepare Kochi port business plan

Staff Reporter

Final report to be ready by the end of November

KOCHI: TransCare Logistics India Private Limited, part of the TransCare group of companies based in Germany and having operations in various parts of the world, has won the contract for preparing a perspective business plan for Kochi Port.

TransCare Group, based in Wiesbaden, is a consultancy service with focus on port and rail infrastructure development. It has won the contract from among six companies, including companies based in the U.K. and Singapore with operations in India.

From among the six, three companies were qualified and TransCare was awarded the work.

Kochi Port is one of the perspective ports on the west coast of India, and TransCare is expected to "leverage its international experience in port consulting and inter-modal connectivity to develop a vision and a strategy" for the Port, said a communication from the company here. The target "will be to create a competitive port on the Indian west coast and develop a lead competitor to Port of Colombo in transshipment business," it added.

To set up office in Kochi

It is now expected that TransCare will set up its office in Kochi in the coming days ahead of beginning work on the business plan.

TransCare's global Chief Executive Officer Ralf Jahncke is expected in Kochi on July 14.

Sources in the Kochi Port said that the final report was expected by the end of November and that the interim report was expected in the second week of September.

Major ports across the country have been directed by the Union Government to prepare perspective business plans and the preparation of the business plan for Kochi is part of this effort, Port Trust sources said.

The Union Ministry's effort is to turn the Indian ports into world-class facilities in keeping with the increasing competition in the maritime business.

Growth prospects

The Port expects the business plan to give it a blueprint for achieving goals in keeping with its vision of future growth.

While Kochi has a major locational advantage, the consultants will identify areas of growth, capacity expansion, infrastructure development, dredging and channel deepening needs, induction of new technology, etc.

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