Jurisdiction - Tuticorin Customs

Jurisdiction

As per the Notification No.15/2002 Customs (NT) dated the 7th June,2002, the jurisdiction of Customs Commissionerate, Tuticorin extends to port of Tuticorin and the area under the jurisdiction of the revenue District of Tuticorin in the State of Tamil Nadu and designated shelf and Exclusive Economic Zone of India as declared by the Government of India from time to time.  At present, this Custom House exercise control over Port of Tuticorin (Zone A and Zone B), 12 Container Freight Stations in Tuticorin and one private inland Container Depot operated by M/s St. John Freight Systems, Tuticorin.

Old Port:

Old Port is situated at Beach road, Eastern side of the city and declared as Zone 'B' of Tuticorin Port. This office is functioning in own building in the port area.

At present a single R.C. Jetty is in use, which accommodates small vessels, bound for Male and Country Boats (Thonis) bound for Male and Colombo for Export. Tug Boats along with Barges are sailing between old port and Male in which Rough Stones, River Sand, Rock boulders, Construction materials are exported. Country Boats are sailing to Colombo, which carries chilies, Salt, country drugs, cow dung, Beedi leaves, Onion, Potatoes, Korai Mats, Rice, Utensils, and other edible items for Export. Most of the shipping Bills are free Bills and a very few of them availing Scheme Bills. The metal waste and scrap imported from Colombo & Male is being unloaded here.

A Record Management cell has been formed in 2002 in the Old Port Examination Building itself. All the Export / Import documents, registers are kept in safe custody and properly maintained for future reference. The old Port is manned by One Superintendent, one Inspector in General shift and One Inspector, One Havildar / Sepoy on other shifts.

New Port:

New port is Zone 'A' of Tuticorin Port. It has following 12 berths.

There are four entry / exit points at the New Port Area viz., Green Gate, Red Gate, Blue Gate and Blue Gate. The movement of goods through these gates monitored the Officers. Deployment of Customs Officers at various points at the New Port is as under.

i)Green Gate:

The Green Gate is manned by One Superintendent and one Inspector. Duties at the Green Gate mainly involve, Verification of the movement of Empty containers to and fro with reference to TSA issued, grant of entry of Ships Stores, water in tankers, equipments / machinery parts of the vessel for repair works, monitoring movement of Bulk cargo / other cargo vehicles.

ii)Red Gate:

Red Gate is the entry / exit point to the Oil and Coal Jetties where vessels carrying LPG, Ammonia, Coal etc., in bulk are berthed., Group ‘D’ officers are posted at this Gate under the supervision of the duty Inspectors at the Green Gate.

iii)Blue Gate:

The Blue gate opened on 15-07-2008 exclusively for the entry of export containers / cargo. One inspector is posted for I and III shift and two Inspector for the II shift. Duties at the Blue Gate mainly involve, verifying the seal, container number, export documents of sealed laden containers coming from ICDs and CFSs, factory / house stuffing, allowing into container Terminal (PSA – Sical)

iv)Yellow Gate:

The Yellow gate opened during July 2010 exclusively to facilitate movement of men and materials for the proposed construction of berth/laying of conveyor. One Sepoy is posted for round the clock. The TPT has provided a colour closed circuit LCD TV at Green Gate with Camera at Yellow Gate operating round the clock for monitoring by the Customs Superintendent and Inspector at Green Gate.

v) Additional Berth:

Additional Berth is manned by one Superintendent and one Inspector in each shift. The officers attached to Additional Berth are having supervisory control of all Customs related activities in Main Berth, Additional Berth, PSA Sical, Shallow Berth, 8th Berth and oil / local jetties. Attending Board Ship officers duty by boarding the Foreign run vessels, Customs clearances on crew members and their baggage, supervision of loading and unloading of Bulk cargo, escorting the ships spares to the vessels.

vi) Import Container Verification Cell at PSA Sical:

This cell is manned by one Inspector. The Superintendent holding charge of Additional Berth is also looking after this section. These officers are performing the following work.

Movement of containers to PSA-Sical, Attending the verification of Import container Nos. and seals with EIR furnished by the Container Terminal and the permission given by Superintendent(IG) / Bonds for Import containers.

Import Examination Section at Docks- New Port:

Import Examination Section is located in Warehouse premises at Docks in a Building provided by Port trust on rental basis.

The following commodities Pulses, Raw Cashew Nuts in shell, Raw Cotton, HDPE / LDPE granules, Scrap, New / old machineries, Waste paper,MDF Board, Spent anode, Wooden logs etc, are being imported and examined at Import Examination Section at Docks. Apart from the above, ONBOARD examination is being conducted for the bulk cargo of coal, Copper concentrate, Crude Palm oil, Potash, LPG, Urea and V.C.M.