The first mother ship carrying cranes from China that arrived at Kerala's Vizhinjam International Seaport, the first phase of which is nearing completion, was given the traditional water salute on Thursday, October 12. The ship Zhen-Hua 15 had left the shores of China in August and had its first berthing at the Mundra Port in Gujarat earlier this month. It reached the outer waters of Vizhinjam on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Union Minister of Shipping Sarbananda Sonowal, among others, will officially receive the ship on Sunday at the seaport.

It was last month that CM Vijayan and top officials named the port Vizhinjam International Seaport Thiruvananthapuram and released its logo. The port, which was termed the dream project of Kerala, is expected to open the gateway to international marine transshipment .

The arrival of the first cargo ship has taken place after a delay of five years. During the commencement of the port on December 5, 2015, its founder Gautam Adani had announced that the first ship would berth here on September 1, 2018, in a record time of less than 1,000 days. But the group failed to meet the deadline due to various factors.

Currently, more than 80% of the first phase of the work at the port is over. Seven more ships are scheduled to arrive soon, and the port will be opened to commercial operations in May next year.

The project was signed off by the Congress-led UDF government under former chief minister Oommen Chandy (2011-16) and the work on the port began at the fag-end of Chandy's tenure.

After cyclone Ockhi hit the construction site in 2017, a portion of the constructed breakwater was washed away. The shortage of limestone, an important raw material for the project, caused yet another delay.

The port is projected to provide a record one lakh jobs, which includes direct and indirect ones. Once opened, the port is expected to handle 80% of transshipments to India that currently take place at Colombo, Singapore, and Dubai.