<p>Feeder vessel service from Vallarpadam to be operated weekly <br></p><p>The first container ship with raw cashew docked at the Kollam cargo port at 11 a.m. on Wednesday. It was a feeder vessel carrying 30 container loads of cashew. The entire consignment is from Tanzania. The containers were loaded on the feeder vessel from a ship that arrived at Vallarpadam with the consignment from Tanzania.Ports Director P.I. Sheik Pareeth said that the electronic data interface (EDI) facility of the Customs at the Kollam Port was commissioned on Wednesday and this had enabled importers and exports to handle consignments meant for Kollam from anywhere in the world. The facility with a particular code was available round the clock. It replaced the manual system for Customs clearance at the port.The Ports Department had applied for the facility at Kozhikode and Kannur ports too, Mr. Pareeth said.Henceforth, the firm Enterprise Shipping Private Limited will operate a weekly feeder vessel service from Vallarpadam.All the 30 containers which arrived on Wednesday were meant for a single cashew processor. The ship has the capacity to accommodate 106 containers. Rajesh, owner of the feeder vessel operating company, said that several private sector cashew processors had already come forward expressing interest in the service. <br></p> <p>Up to 60%</p> <p>About 60 per cent of the 6 lakh tonnes of raw cashew annually imported by the country reaches Kollam and peripheral areas for processing.These imports are mainly through the Vallarpadam (earlier Kochi) and Tuticorin ports.These are brought by road from the two ports to factories in Kollam. The lorry freight charge for one container of cashew nut from Kochi to Kollam was about Rs.12,000. <br></p> Costs <p>At least 20,000 containers were brought annually to Kollam and the freight charges worked out to about Rs.24 crore a year. Similarly, 75 per cent of the more than 1 lakh tonnes of cashew kernel exported was from Kollam. The transport charges for that touched Rs.8 crore annually, the processors said.The introduction of the shipping facility from Kollam will enable processors to cut costs to some extent. It will also serve to ease congestion on roads.<br></p>