The Hindu Business Line : Delay in Paradip-Haldia pipeline<br>Crude lighterage may be handled at Sandheads till March

THE crude lighterage operation at the Sandheads, the mouth of the Hooghly river, which is to be closed down from January 2006, may continue till March and beyond, according to informed sources.

The 330-km-long Paradip-Haldia crude pipeline, being constructed at an estimated cost of more than Rs 700 crore, will not be ready for operation before the first quarter of next fiscal (2006-07), it is learnt. Thus, Kolkata Port Trust has got some reprieve as the commissioning of the Paradip-Haldia crude pipeline is to entail suspension of the lighterage operation, depriving the port of a sizeable crude traffic and substantial revenue.

In 2004-05, the crude throughput in lighterage operation was 4.56 million tonnes, compared with 4.22 mt in 2003-04. The commissioning of the Paradip-Haldia crude pipeline, however, will cause flight of a much larger volume of traffic, an estimated 10 mt comprising the volume handled under the lighterage operation as also direct imports to Haldia/Paradip port, resulting in a revenue loss of more than Rs 100 crore annually for Kolkata port.

The essence of the lighterage operation is this: huge crude carriers, including ultra-large crude carriers, with full load arrive at the Sandheads and discharge the load into several smaller crude tankers for a second round of discharge at Haldia and other ports, including Visakhapatnam and Chennai.

No other port in the country can handle these huge crude carriers because no other port has the kind of draft that is required to handle these vessels. The draft problem is particularly critical at Kolkata port, including Haldia, which being a riverine port, is especially hit by the poor navigability of the river. However, there is no such problem at the Sandheads, which being the mouth of the river has virtually an unlimited draft.

Kolkata port started crude lighterage operations in in September 1997 at Sagar Island where the draft is about 10 metres. The operation shifted to Sandheads in November 1998. Normally, the operation is undertaken from the middle of October to the middle of March every year. The year 2001-02 recorded the lowest throughput so far at 1.6 mt.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Jet announces plans to buy 20 aircraft

Infy in Airbus programme

SCI scans the horizon for acquisitions

Delay in Paradip-Haldia pipeline
Crude lighterage may be handled at Sandheads till March

GE Shipping takes delivery of vessel

NMP unions stage protest against port divestment

Sethusamudram project at core of CII report

Protest against ports privatisation