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V. Sajeev Kumar

Estimated to cost Rs 5 cr; may be completed in 10 months

Kochi , March 6

The Cochin Port Trust is going ahead with its proposal to widen the BTP (boat train pier) Jetty adjacent to the Mattanchery Wharf area by 7 metres so as to handle bulk cargo vessels.

The total estimated cost of the work is to the tune of Rs 5 crore and the work can be completed over a period of 10 months after completion of tender formalities, sources in the port said.

The widening of the berth would ensure the availability of a full-fledged berth for efficient handling of bulk cargo. This would avoid an undesirable situation of non-availability of proper cargo handling facility in the port and consequent congestion in the present scenario of building up of dry bulk traffic in the port.

According to sources, the port is experiencing heavy shortage of berth capacity consequent upon the collapse of Mattanchery Wharf in November last year.

Due to this, the Q-4 and part of Q-3 berths in the wharf shut down operations. As a result, it has become necessary to identify alternative solutions and optimise the use of the existing infrastructure pending reconstruction of the Mattanchery Wharf.

The proposals

Under the circumstances, it has been proposed to make use of the BTP jetty for handling cargo vessels. While handling the bulk cargo vessels at BTP, it has been observed that the berth has a width constraint for the smooth and efficient cargo handling operations.

The present BTP berth was reconstructed in 2001 for handling mixed type of vessels. The berth is 200 metres long and 16 metres wide with the capability for dredging up to 13 metres depth and receiving vessels up to 35,000 DWT.

A crane track for the installation of wharf cranes similar to that provided at the Ernakulam and Mattanchery wharves were available in the BTP berth.

The present berth was planned on the basis that cargo handling would be done with wharf cranes. As there was no storage of cargo on the berth, the cargo transfer would be directly between vessels and trucks.

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