Vizag port draft deepening work apace

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

31 Jan 2010

The Visakhapatnam port has handled 53.5 million tonnes of cargo till Tuesday, 1.5 million tonnes more than last year, according to the Chairman, Mr Ajeya Kallam. Wage pact signed
The wage revision agreement between the management and federations, envisaging a hike of 30-40 per cent, had also been signed, paving the way for peaceful functioning of the port. The Chairman said the port management was making all attempts to augment capacity.
“This year, the Ministry of Shipping has set the target of 67 million tonnes for the port and we are hopeful of crossing 65 million tonnes. In the current year, we are ahead in export of iron ore and thermal coal and containers compared to last year,” he said.
development works
Mr Ajeya Kallam said various development works were in progress. “The approved outlay for 2009-10 is Rs 65 crore and so far, we have spent Rs 60 crore,” he added.
In view of the need to cater to deep draft vessels, he said, the phase two deepening of inner harbour entrance channel and turning circle to 12.5 mt draft had been taken up and it may be over by October. Thereafter, the phase three of the project would be taken up to deepen the draft to 14 mt.
PPP projects
He said that during the last four months, “we could obtain clearance from the authorities for PPP projects costing more than Rs 1,250 crore.
“These include development of WQ-6 berth for bulk cargo and EQ-10 berth for liquid cargo in the inner harbour, mechanisation and upgrading of the general cargo berth in the outer harbour to cater to 2,00,000 DWT vessels and development of WQ-7 and WQ-8 berths.
“We are hopeful of awarding concessions for most of the projects before the end of March.”

Source: Hindu Business Line