The movement of container lorries through the congested Kundannur-Edappally NH Bypass may be regulated from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., foreseeing the additional influx of vehicles when the six-lane flyovers are opened at Vyttila and Kundannur in a month.
The ongoing reconstruction of the Palarivattom flyover and the impending barricading of more areas at the junction could create traffic hold-ups at the junction. Taking container lorries off the NH Bypass will considerably decongest junctions on the NH Bypass, especially Palarivattom and Edappally, said sources in the city traffic police.
The curbs on movement of container lorries can be introduced if the District Collector prohibits their movement through the stretch from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Apart from decongesting the NH Bypass, it will also lessen illegal and haphazard parking of lorries on Container Road, they added.
The Collector heads both the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) and the District Road Safety Authority.
Ro-ro ready for operation
The alternative method to transport containers the cost-effective and environment-friendly way is to resume their transit in lorries on the waterway route from Willingdon Island to Bolghatty Island. While lorries have to travel over 40 km through congested roads, the waterway is less than 3 km long.
In order to facilitate the plan, the Cochin Shipyard had recently built a pair of roll-on roll-off (ro-ro) vessels for the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI). The Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation (KSINC) is expected to operate the vessels. The turnaround time per trip for ro-ro vessels is one hour, while it is more than double through the road route.
A private firm withdrew a ro-ro vessel it had operated on the stretch in 2017, mainly because of differences of opinion with the Cochin Port Trust over caution deposit. Moreover, the vessel needed a draft of 2.5 metres, while the waterway fell short of that in many places, official sources said.
MoU awaiting clearance from govt.
A draft of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between IWAI and KSINC is awaiting clearance from the Ministry of Shipping. The tariff per lorry and other aspects too have to be finalised. KSINC will host a webinar in a week, to take container lorry operators and other stakeholders into confidence. It is estimated that around 800 container-laden lorries are using the route every day. The two ro-ro vessels can operate in a feasible manner if they carry at least 300 of these lorries, although they have much higher capacity. Each vessel can carry up to 15 lorries and need a draft of only 2 metres, they added.
KSINC has readied crew and other infrastructure for the vessels, it is learnt.