The Beypore port is likely to lose its preferred trade status with Lakshadweep in the wake of the move by the Union Territory authorities to build stronger commercial ties with the New Mangalore Port.
There is apprehension among the trading community attached to the Beypore port, with the four-month regulation on the Arabian Sea imposed by the Mercantile Marine Department under the Directorate General of Shipping coming into force from May 15. They feel that the prominence of the Beypore port, which has deep cultural bonds with islands such as Androth, Kadmat, Kalpeni and Amini, will diminish in the long run and subsequently impact commercial activities in the Malabar region.
“The connection between Beypore and Lakshadweep dates back to the pre-Independence era. Now, the move will sound the death knell for merchants in Kozhikode,” said K.V. Rafeek, general secretary, Sailing Vessel Agents and Shipping Cargo Contractors Welfare Association.
He said the proposal of the Lakshadweep Administration to strengthen commercial relations with New Mangalore Port had started affecting the trade in Beypore. “Over 60% of the cargo was supplied from Mangaluru this season. From next year, exports are expected to rise,” he said.
A former master mariner of Shipping Corporation of India and Lakshadweep Development Corporation Limited, Capitan K.K. Haridas, who is also president of the Calicut Management Association, said that successive governments had failed to take steps to improve facilities at the Beypore port. The Mangaluru port had exploited the situation with enhanced facilities for cargo movement, he added.
He said the Kerala government should be involved in a tri-party agreement with the Shipping Corporation of India and the Lakshadweep Administration for bettering maritime activities. “Now, we have no private cargo and shipping service from Beypore except dhows,” he added.
Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) general secretary M.P. Padmanabhan, a native of Beypore, said the Beypore port, at present, transported building materials, petroleum products and LPG cylinders for islanders in the archipelago. The volume of trade was 103.88 metric tonnes, including exports worth 92.20 metric tonnes, during 2020-21.
Mr. Rafeek said the Beypore branch of the Lakshadweep Cooperative Marketing Federation, an apex body of cooperative societies for purchasing goods from the mainland to be supplied and marketed in the islands, carried out trade worth ₹50 crore while essential commodities to the tune of ₹25 crore a year were transported as private cargo. “The procurement of essential commodities and provisions are from Kozhikode Big Bazaar,” he said, adding that the new proposal had been mooted deliberately to favour the New Mangalore Port.