The Hindu Business Line : Haldia dock may register reduced traffic in '07-08

Major concern
Crude throughput may decline to four mt once the pipeline becomes operational
Thermal coal may witness shortfall in 2007-08 also

Kolkata March 28 If 2006-07 turns out to be bad for Haldia dock in terms of traffic growth, 2007-08 will be worse, according to Kolkata Port Trust sources.

The dock's traffic throughput in the current fiscal is likely to remain unchanged at the previous year's (2005-06) level of 42 million tonnes (mt), while that for 2007-08 is projected to drop to around 36 mt.

The drop is envisaged due to the probable diversion of a large chunk of crude traffic to Paradip following the commissioning of the India Oil Corporation's Paradip-Haldia crude pipeline. Haldia dock currently handles about 12 mt of crude, projected to decline to around four mt or so once the pipeline becomes operational.

However, Haldia dock, as it has been reported, has got a temporary reprieve in the sense the pipeline will not be ready for operation at least in the first half of the next fiscal.

Traffic diversion

Which means, contrary to earlier projection, not the entire eight to nine mt will be diverted to Paradip in 2007-08. How much will be diverted is difficult to estimate right now as much will depend on when the pipeline is going to be commissioned. Once the pipeline is commissioned, Paradip port hopes to handle close to one mt of crude a month on an average.

What is causing concern to the dock authorities is that the probable drop in crude throughput will not be entirely compensated by the probable rise in the throughput of other items.

Thermal coal

Thermal coal for coastal shipment was once a major item of cargo of the dock but not any more. In fact, throughput of thermal coal for coastal shipment so far this year is showing a shortfall of about a million tonnes vis-à-vis the same period of last year and the trend, as the sources indicate, will persist in 2007-08 also.

The dock authorities, therefore, have to depend on items such as coking coal imports and iron ore exports.

Between Steel Authority of India Ltd and Tata Steel and others, about 5 mt of coking coal is imported through the dock annually and the figure might rise by another 10-12 per cent in the next fiscal, it is felt.

The dock is handling eight mt of iron ore for exports and, if the present situation, both on domestic and international fronts, is any indication, it might be rash to pin too much hope on the iron ore traffic.

Capacity constraint

One ray of hope is that the problem of capacity constraint might be removed to some extent with the commissioning of two new berths within the dock, due in 2007-08. As a result, the detention of iron ore vessels, now a major concern, might come down.

However, the poor navigability of the river continues to be a matter of major concern. Only recently a tanker was grounded near number one oil jetty. The Rs 421-crore River Regulatory Scheme, designed to tackle the navigability problem, has been lying with the Centre for a long time.