The Hindu Business Line : Breakwater will make Kochi port a safer haven

Several of the development schemes lined up at Kochi port are planned at the mouth of the harbour, which is open to sea. To protect the facilities that will come up there, the port will soon start building a breakwater that will create a calm, 3-km long harbour basin for safe berthing of ships, and more efficient cargo handling.

THE Kochi Port is to take up shortly the construction of breakwaters at the harbour entrance. The project cost, estimated at Rs 200 crore, is to be financed under the Centre's Viability Gap Funding Scheme. The proposed harbour basin will provide along the channel a frontage of about 3 km for locating the various port facilities. The main port facilities are now concentrated in the Willingdon Island which divides the channel into the Ernakulam channel and the Mattanchery channel inside the harbour.

The existing harbour basin is within the naturally protected area of the Cochin lagoon. The approach channel to the port, up to the Cochin Gut, is about 10 km long, and 175 metres wide; a dredged depth of 12.8 metres is maintained throughout the year.

With not enough place in the Willingdon Island to take up development plans, the port is exploring various options. The thrust is to expand from the inner harbour towards the open sea so as to reduce the navigation time from the main trunk route and to reduce the recurring maintenance dredging cost.

About 440 acres at Vallarpadam Island was reclaimed in 1984 as a part of the port Integrated Development Project. In addition, the port has about 600 acres at Puthuvypeen.

Various port development schemes envisaged under the Integrated Development Plan are proposed to be located in this outer harbour region where deep draught is available.

The land available at Puthuvypeen opens right out into the Arabian Sea requiring a minimal navigational channel to access the berths. Puthuvypeen is not developed and unoccupied. Sizeable land is available for development.

The projects identified under the Integrated Development Plan include (a) terminal and service facilities; and (b) support infrastructure.

The projects under the first category include an international container transhipment terminal (ICTT), a bunkering terminal, a ship-repair yard, a cruise terminal, single buoy mooring (SBM) for Kochi Refineries, an LNG re-gasification terminal, and a port-based special economic zone (SEZ).

The second category is meant to provide common user support infrastructure so as to make the investment on the first set of projects possible and viable. These include: National highway and rail link to the ICTT, main channel and basin dredging, and breakwaters.

According to the Port Deputy Chairman, Mr A. Janardhana Rao, most port development schemes, including the proposed ICTT after its first stage development at Vallarpadam, are planned at the Puthuvypeen area, which is at the mouth of the harbour. This area is now open to sea and has no protected harbour basin.

For locating all these port facilities in this region, the water area needs to be protected from waves by constructing suitable breakwaters so as to form a tranquil harbour basin for safe berthing of ships, and efficient cargo handling.

Breakwaters are essential structures required to

a) provide a calm basin for ship going, berthing, cargo handling and protecting harbour facilities, and

b) keep the water deep enough by protecting from the intrusion of littoral drift.A rubble mound breakwater has been found to be feasible for the Kochi outer harbour development because that natural rock is abundantly available and can be quarried to the required sizes economically.

The alignment of breakwater is to be done carefully after examining the predominant direction of approach waves and wind, the degree of protection required, the magnitude and direction of littoral drift and the possible effect of the breakwater on the shoreline, in general.

Considering that the predominant wave directions at Kochi are from west, north-west and south- west, there should be two breakwaters, one on the northern side and the other on the south, to create a tranquil harbour basin.

The Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune, will conduct model studies on the technical parameters of the breakwater. The final design would depend upon the requirement of the LNG terminal operator, particularly the based on the type of vessels that would call.

Once the breakwaters are in place, the Kochi Port, Mr Rao says, would become a safe haven, facilitating maritime trade all through the year, both in the inner and outer harbour.