VO Chidambaranar and Tuticorin Port have inked pact with Central Warehousing Corporation to facilitate easy movement of factory-stuffed export containers, the government said Monday.

"The VO Chidambaranar Port Trust, Tuticorin and CWC have signed a Memorandum of Understanding today for facilitating Direct Port Entry (DPE) of e-sealed factory stuffed export container to the port under 'Ease of Doing Business'," Ministry of Shipping said in a statement.

With this MoU, Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) will make use of the 18,357 sqm area earmarked in the Truck Parking Terminal located opposite to Fisheries College, Tuticorin for operating and managing the DPE facility for 30 years on annual lease rental basis, the statement said.

The DPE facility will enable direct movement of containers from factories without intermediate handling requirement at any Container Freight Station thus facilitating the shippers to gate-in their factory-stuffed goods directly to the Container Terminal on 24x7 basis, it said.

At present, the factory stuffed (self-sealed) containers are taken to 15 Container Freight Stations (CFSs) and one ICD operated in Tuticorin.

"All the CFSs operate during the day time from 10 AM to 5 PM with extended time up to 8 PM on working days. Only one CFS operated by CONCOR has 24x7 service. Hence, with this DPE facility made available by the port at the Truck Parking Terminal, the export clearance of factory stuffed e-sealed containers will be faster and the time and cost incurred will get reduced," the statement said.

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