Journal of Information and Computational Science ISSN: 1548-7741 TUTICORIN PORT DEVELOPMENT UNDER RAILWAYS Dr.K.Marimuthu Guest Lecturer Department of History Bharathidasan University Tiruchirappalli-24, Tamil Nadu, India [email protected] Abstract The Port of Tuticorin is important as it forms the Southernmost Port on the east coast and has the largest trade in South India. In his enumeration of ports on the east coast of India. The first railway line, on South Indian Railway from Madurai to Thoothukudi was opened on 1st January 1876, to a distance of 157.9 Km. and from Thoothukudi to Foreshore (0.65 Km.) on 7th August 1899. The section of railway line from Maniyachi to Tirunelveli (28 km) was opened on 1st January, 1876. Keywords— Tuticorin, Port, Hinterland, Industry, Railways I INTRODUCTION Thoothukudi formed a part of Pandyan Kingdom from the 7th century and the Chola Kingdom from the 9th to 12th Centuries. There is a little doubt that the Chola invasion of Ceylon was launched from Thoothukudi, the base closest to Sri Lanka (llangai). The obvious advantage of a well guarded and convenient roadstead where sailing vessels and ships can anchor and were silting poses no problem throughout Thoothukudi to the forefront as a Port. Lured by the wealth of Tamil Nadu, travellers, adventurers and colonisers locked the East Coast. The Portuguese who first came in 1 532 were engaged in spreading Christianity along the fishing coast apart from trade activities. In 1542 St.Francis Xavier landed in Thoothukudi. The flourishing trade of Portuguese in Thoothukudi attracted the Dutch who had by then occupied Sri Lanka and took over Thoothukudi in 1658. Followed the Dutch the English who had come to India took over Thoothukudi and all other dependencies finally by 1825. The early years of the 19th century marked the commercial rise of Thoothukudi with its hinterland supplying varied commodities and raw materials and the advantages derived from a natural harbour. The light house built in 1 842 marked the beginning of the development of Thoothukudi harbour. The district has 163.5 Km. of sea coast which extends along the Gulf of Mannar from Vembar, an insignificant Port on the north, to a point about 7 km. east of Cape Comorin in Kanniyakumari district. Korkai, which means an army “camp” was once the gateway as well as capital of the Pandya Kingdom. The port presided over the pearl fishing that was Volume 9 Issue 12 - 2019 1725 www.joics.org Journal of Information and Computational Science ISSN: 1548-7741 flourishing along the coromandal coast and traders from Greece flocked to Korkai with their merchandise in order to exchange it for the much sought after pearls. This place is now 7 or 8 Km. in land as a result of receding of the sea. Kayal was the another flourishing port during the 1 2th and 1 3th centuries.Marco Polo has referred to Kayal as a pearl trading centre, in his writings. This port was also an emporium of horse trade. There were also some other small ports like Manappad and Kayalpattinam which grew in importance during the trade with Arabs. But the emergence of Thoothukudi as an important port in India is very interesting. A series of dramatic changes of the English gave Thoothukudi an important position among the ports in India.The year 1886 saw the planned development of the harbour when the first pier, a primitive wooden jetty of about hundred feet in length was constructed at a cost of Rs.1200/-. This was further strengthened in 1877. Trolley rails connecting the port with the railway was laid in 1878. A new iron screw-pile was constructed in 1889. Increased demand space paved way for the reclamation of the foreshore to provide approaches to the new jetty at a cost of about Rs.2 lakh. The railway line was extended upto the quay in 1899. In the early 20th century Thoothukudi became a prominant centre for freedom struggle. In order to strike at the roots of the British monopoly in transporting passengers and cargo along the coastal areas. V.O.Chidambaram Pillay, a veteran freedom fighter hailing from Ottapidaram of this district, set up the first Swadesi Steam Navigation Company in India, purchased two steamers namely S.S.Gaelia and S.S.Lawoe, to ply between Thoothukudi and Sri Lanka (Ceylon). In order to buy these two steamers he toured all over India and collected money from among the freedom fighters. The erstwhile minor port of Thoothukudi, currently called zone B is an anchorage port with lighterage facilities and harbours 40 mechanised sail vessels of various capacities ranging from 200-500 tonnes. More vessels are engaged in lightering work to facilitate the bigger ships of more than 30 feet draft to enter the major ports.This minor port has the distinction of handling its highest traffic tonnages of one million per year. Now this port has two operational sections zone A, the new major port and zone B representing the old anchorage or minor port. The Thoothukudi Port Trust Board at present consists of 19 members. This port is located on the south eastern coast at the latitude of 8° 45° north and longitude 78° 13° east. The main advantage of the port is its closeness to major international routes. Due to natural calm water the port is operated throughout the year. High level efficiency, infrastructural facilities for cargo handling operations, quick turn round of vessels and the efficient workforce have made this port one of the most productive major ports of India. The port has two breakwaters on north (the second largest in the world) and south east extending into the sea upto a distance of about 4 Km. It has a protected harbour basin with a water spread of 400 hectares served by an approach channel with a length of 1450 meter and a width of 183 meter. The artificial harbour has many natural advantages. The distance between Thoothukudi and Sri Lanka is about 150 nautical miles, providing a safe route to ships from the highways. Volume 9 Issue 12 - 2019 1726 www.joics.org Journal of Information and Computational Science ISSN: 1548-7741 Zone A has six berths and the south break water and three bulk cargo jettys on north break waters. The berths and jetties are well connected by roads and rail. The length of the south break water is 387.37 meter while north break water is about 4098.66 meter. The distance between the break water is 1275 meters. The south break water berths handle dry bulk, break bulk and container cargos. Phosphoric acid is also handled at one of the alongside berths. Two of the northern break water berths handle coal for Thoothukudi Thermal Power Station. The oil jetty handles POL products, chemicals, LPG chemicals like VCM, DYEDC, etc. are also discharged through pipelines laid along north break water. The port has vast space for development of warehouses and a strategic location that facilitate sea -trade. The major problem of the port is the shallow nature of its approach channel, despite the harbour basin having enough depth to accommodate 9.15 meter draught ships. The channel restricts the shipping to a draught of 8.24 meter only, thus forcing bulk containers to call for “lighter age” which results in the loss of more than 0.70 million tonnes of cargo per year, additional handling charges to prolonged port stay. The port has proposed to deepen the channels to 10.7 m and with this the number of main line vessels calling at the port would increase. At present only feeder vessels with a draught of 7 meter to 10 meter are calling at the Port. With increased traffic and the concept of ‘hub-port’ gaining importance, decision makers are giving a serious thought to one-time capital dredging at 12.5 m depth in the approach channel and 11-9 m in the harbour basin to accommodate vessels of 10.7 m (35 feet). This would benefit the vast hinterland and play a leading role in the promotion of trade and industry in the region. It would also increase the port’s handling capacity from a mere 1.3 million tonnes of traffic in 1975-76, the port’s traffic reached 9.173 million tonnes during 1996-97. In 1995- 96, the port’s operating income was Rs.54,905 crore which rose to 59.04 crore in 1996-97. It registered a net surplus of Rs.23.45 crore in 1995-96 and Rs.26.46 crore in 1996-97. Container Freight Stations (CFS) at Thoothukudi There are two Private Container Freight stations that operate in Thoothukudi - SEL group and St.Johns Freight Systems. In addition there is another CFS operated by the Container Corporation of India. They play a vital role in enhancing containerisation system at the port. Other Services at the Port The Thoothukudi Stevedoring Association (TSA) a private body provides stevedoring services of various grades and skills for handling cargos on board and on the shore. The cargo handling works are drawn from the labour pool managed by the TSA which works round the clock throughout the year. The vessels calling at Thoothukudi port can replenish their supplies of bunkers through the services provided by the Indian Oil Corporation, the largest State owned Petroleum Company. Water is provided to the ships at the port through private agencies. One Customs Licensed Agents Association is functioning in the district in which about seventy agencies have been enrolled themselves as its member. Also the Thoothukudi Stevedores Association has 45 members, while the Thoothukudi Steamer Agents Association Volume 9 Issue 12 - 2019 1727 www.joics.org Journal of Information and Computational Science ISSN: 1548-7741 has 46 members.