Archana Shukla

Antwerp: State-owned Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) is looking at Port of Antwerp, Belgium as the next gateway to Europe.

The new service would almost double SCI’s containerised cargo volumes to Europe. It is now finalising consortium partners for the new service.

At a meet at the Port of Antwerp, Devinder Durga, regional vice president-UK and Europe, SCI, said, “We are looking for growth in Europe and plan to start this service by November this year.”

SCI will receive deliveries of two new 4,400 TEU container vessels from Hyundai Samho Heavy Industry in South Korea in November this year.

“We plan to employ the new bigger vessels on this service as soon as they come,” said Durga,while specifying that it is still in a development stage.

Through its consortium, SCI currently calls at Flexito Port for UK-bound cargo, Hamburg Port for cargo to Scandinavian countries and services the rest of European Union through Rotterdam Port.

SCI also has an agreement with German shipping company Rickmers Lines for space on latter’s ship to carry break bulk to Europe.

The service to Antwerp would be a second stream of operations to Europe and an add-on to SCI’s Rotterdam services, Durga said.

The writer is in Antwerp at the invitation of the Port Authority of Antwerp

Source : DNA