Kochi Sep 7 (IANS) The fourth cement terminal at Cochin Port in Kerala was opened on Friday when Penna Suraksha carrying 25 000 tonnes of cement from Krishnapatnam arrived here.
This shift in transport of cement from road/rail to sea is another step towards promoting coastal shipping as cost-effective and environment-friendly means of transportation as envisaged under the Sagarmala Programme of Ministry of Shipping Cochin Port officials said in a statement.
With huge destruction that has occurred in the recent floods the requirement of cement in re-building the state is expected to increase.
Presently three cement terminals are in operation handling 783 000 tonnes of cement annually.
The new terminal has been set up on 1.14 ha of land leased by Cochin Port Trust and is expected to handle 3 lakh tonnes of cement annually.
Cochin Port has facilitated the installation of automated cement bagging units by allotting land adjacent to berths to cement companies. Cement is brought in bulk through ships and is transferred to silos on the adjacent land through pipelines.
The Port is expected to handle 1.5 million metric tonnes of cement by 2020. Malabar Cements a state government enterprise has also been allotted land at Cochin Port for setting up a bagging terminal.

--IANS sg/qd/sed