LOTS Shipping CEO shot dead in South Sudan....

LOTS Shipping Limited, is in news that makes a sad reading…

This Company  was set up in  1994 to tap the largely underutilized opportunities in Inland Water Transport. The company launched its first vessel M.B. Meenachil, a 650 MT dry cargo cum container barge and subsequently grew to 7 barges and operates 4 chartered barges capable of carrying dry cargo, petroleum products and chemicals. They are among the biggest barge operators in the National Waterway 3 in Kerala offering a diversified fleet with the ability to carry varied cargo.  Its barges have carried fertilizers and project cargoes including 800 MT VGO Reactor for Kochi Refineries Limited

Barge of Lots and Beypore sultan below...

Last year, LOTS Shipping Ltd was in news when they launched its first river sea container vessel, marking an entry into coastal shipping in the country. The indigenously built IRS class Type IV River Sea Vessel – M V Beypore Sultan – is capable of carrying 81 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).  The Rs 12-crore vessel wasconstructed by Master Shipyard Pvt Ltd,  their associate company.   It was stated that the vesssel will be put to use for moving boxes between various ports on the west coast and the Vallarpadam container transhipment terminal. Canal and inland transportation is common in many countries, in India many vallams, barges and country crafts navigate in inland waters; perhaps not many carry containers…..

At that time, Renjit Nelluvelil, CEO, LOTS Shipping  had stated that deployment of river sea vessels would help the business community get better connectivity to the Vallarpadam terminal, thereby reducing cost and increasing competitiveness. Such vessels were to act as a feeder for the ICTT as well as to carry import containers to inland and upcountry destinations. The deployment of the vessel could be a boon to the Exim trade from minor ports such as Beypore, Azhikkal, Thangaserry and Vizhinjam, to major ports such as Mangalore and Tuticorin, he had said.

The sad news is that -  Mr. Renjit Nelluvelil is no more…  Today’s the Hindu reports that he was shot dead in Sudan.  The newspaper report states that Renjit T. Nelluvelil (56), chief executive officer of Kochi-based LOTS Shipping Limited, was shot dead by dacoits in South Sudan on Saturday while he was travelling in a car from Mangala, a village, to Juba, South Sudan’s capital, some 60 kms away. Renjit hailed from Cherupuzha in Kannur, but was staying with his family in an apartment at Marine Drive here.

K. Shyam, general manager (technical) of the company said that dacoits had fired at the car around 5.30 p.m. (Sudanese time) on Saturday, fatally injuring Renjit. They had also taken away his belongings, including his passport. The car diver, a Kenyan national who got shot in the eye, is battling for life. “With help from the government, we have been able to send across a copy of his passport. Captain Philip Mathews, the company’s managing director, has reached Sudan to get the body to Thiruvananthapuram, where the funeral is likely to take place,” said Mr. Shyam.

Renjit had gone to Sudan to drydock three barges operated by Tristar Energy for River Transport Limited, Khartoum. Renjit is survived by his wife and two children.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

7^th May 2013.

PS : Vaikom Muhammad Basheer was a Malayalam fiction writer; he was known as the Beypore Sultan.