Chairman of V. O. C. Port Susanta Kumar Purohit inaugurating the discharge of crude palm oil from the modified coal jetty on Friday.

| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGMENT

V. O. Chidambaranar Port achieved a significant milestone on Friday by handling its first crude palm oil vessel at Coal Jetty - 2, which has been suitably altered with pipelines connecting the berth to storage tanks located approximately 5 km away from the jetty.Chairman, V. O. C. Port, Susanta Kumar Purohit launched the discharge operations of crude palm oil in the presence of Rajesh Soundararajan, Deputy Chairperson, K. T. V. Narayanan, Managing Director, KTV Health Food Private Limited, the importer, and senior officials of the Port.The vessel MT. ZY Galaxy, with a draft of 9.70 metres and 143 metres length overall, loaded with 15,000 tonnes of crude palm oil from Port of Kunak, Malaysia was berthed at V. O. C. Port at 10 a.m. on Friday (August 28). The discharge of the entire consignment is expected to be completed by August 31.Importer of this consignment, KTV Health Food Private Limited, has established four storage tanks in the Port’s industrial zone and has a manufacturing capacity of 1,000 tonnes of refined palmolein per day. The refined palmolein produced by the company is distributed for regional domestic consumption. The vessel’s shipping agent is Seaport Services, Thoothukudi.V. O. C. Port has allotted around 1,633 acres of port land for setting up of Port-based industries like power plants, chemicals, warehousing, food processing, edible oil and green hydrogen and its derivatives. The Port is actively pursuing for expanding the manufacturing industries in Thoothukudi.Mr. Sustana Kumar Purohit said in his statement that the handling of the first crude palm oil vessel at modified Coal Jetty - 2 marks another step towards diversifying cargo, strengthening Port-based industries and enhancing the Port’s logistics ecosystem while supporting the growth of the edible oil and food-processing sector in the region.He also stated that V. O. Chidambaranar Port has been a frontrunner in expanding the Port based industries in the Port lands under the ‘Sagarmala’ initiative of Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. Published - August 29, 2026 07:26 pm IST