Over 50,000 Containers Stuck At 3 Major Ports In Chennai

Police to help bring back truck drivers who left for their hometowns due to the lockdown

- TE Rajasimhan

With truck drivers moving back to their home towns due to the Covid-19 lockdown, more than 50,000 sea containers are lying uncleared at the 23 Container Freight Stations (CFS) and private container terminals at the ports of Chennai, Kamajarar and Kattupalli.

For the speedy evacuation of containers, the Tamil Nadu police have offered to help in locating the drivers and bringing them safely to Chennai to ensure container movement starts immediately and the backlog is cleared in the next 10 days, said P Raveendran, Chairman, Chennai Port Trust (ChPT). It is critical that the containers are evacuated from CFSs and ports before the end of the lockdown on April 14, or else the mass evacuation of the boxes after the lockdown will lead to congestion on the roads, he told BusinessLine.