Willingdon Island

Willingdon Island
Island
Office of the Cochin Port Trust in Willingdon Island
Office of the Cochin Port Trust in Willingdon Island
Country India
StateKerala
Founded bySir Robert Bristow[1]
Named forLord Willingdon
Government
 • BodyKochi Municipal Corporation
Area
 • Total314 ha (775 acres)
Elevation
4 m (13 ft)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total17,224
 • Density2,099/km2 (5,440/sq mi)
Languages
 • OfficialMalayalam, English
Time zoneUTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN
682003
Nearest cityKochi

Willingdon Island is the largest artificial island in India, which forms part of the city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala. Much of the present Willingdon Island was claimed from the Vembanadu Lake, filling in dredged soil around a previously existing, but tiny, natural island. Willingdon Island is significant as the home for the Port of Kochi as well as the Kochi Naval Base, the Southern Naval Command of the Indian Navy, Plant Quarantine station, Custom House Cochin [2] and Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, a constituent unit of Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

The island is also home for other establishments associated with the port, namely, the Office of the Cochin Port Trust[3] (that controls the Port of Kochi), the Customs Office, the Mercantile Marine Department and more than two dozen export-import offices, warehouses, a few hotels and business centers. The Cochin Port Maritime Heritage Museum is located in the island.[4]

  1. ^ "Willingdon Island". www.keralatourism.org.
  2. ^ "Custom House Cochin". Cochincustoms.nic.in. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  3. ^ "Cochin Port Trust, Kerala, India". www.cochinport.com.
  4. ^ "Maritime Museum, Kochi, Ernakulam, Kerala, India". Kerala Tourism. Retrieved 26 January 2023.