Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday formally welcomed the Chinese cargo vessel 'San Fernando' at the Vizhinjam international sea port where the ship had berthed a day ago.

The ceremony was held in the presence of Union Minister for Ports, Shipping, and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal, Kerala Assembly Speaker A N Shamseer, state Ports Minister V N Vasavan and his cabinet colleagues K N Balagopal, V Sivankutty, K Rajan and G R Anil, UDF MLA M Vincent and APSEZ Managing Director Karan Adani.

The international port is being developed by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd, (APSEZ), India's largest port developer and part of the Adani Group.

'San Fernando' arrived at the newly-built port on Thursday, marking the first container ship's arrival at India's largest deep-water trans-shipment port.

Container ship San Fernando reaches Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited (VISL), in Thiruvananthapuram, Thursday, July 11, 2024. The container ship from China berthed at Kerala's Vizhinjam Seaport on Thursday and marks the first arrival of such a vessel at India's largest transhipment port. PTI

People turned up in large numbers to see the 300-metre-long mothership at the Vizhinjam International Seaport Limited (VISL).

The port is being constructed under the public-private partnership model.

The total investment for the Vizhinjam port is around Rs 8,867 crore. Out of this, the state government and the Central government have allocated Rs 5,595 crore and Rs 818 crore respectively.

Equipped with modern equipment and advanced automation and IT systems, Vizhinjam will become India's first semi-automated port, expected to be fully commissioned in September or October 2024.

The project, scheduled to be commissioned in 2019, was delayed due to issues with land acquisition.

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