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Mr Rajeev Dube, Deputy Chairman, Haldia Dock

Santanu Sanyal

Mr Rajeev Dube, a 1987 batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre, took over as the Deputy Chairman of Haldia Dock a little more than a year go.

In an interview to Business Line at his office at Haldia recently, Mr Dube discussed the various challenges facing the dock that accounts for the bulk of the traffic handled and therefore revenue earned by Kolkata Port Trust. Haldia Dock is one of the two dock systems of Kolkata Port Trust, the other being Kolkata Dock System comprising Kidderpore Dock and Netaji Subhas Dock.

Excerpts from the interview:

Haldia dock’s traffic growth in 2006-07 over 2005-06 was negligible, as low as 0.28 per cent. What is the trend so far in the current fiscal?

In the first half, i.e. between April and September this year, we posted 6.3 per cent growth at 21.7 million tonnes (20. 4 mt).

Hopefully it will be maintained in the second half also, though we would like to do better.

Why is Haldia a laggard when the average traffic growth in major ports is much higher?

Achieving higher rate of growth on a higher base is difficult particularly when there are capacity constraints which we’re trying to tackle through various ways.

How?

Through construction of new berths, proper mechanisation of operations and introduction of better practices such as incentive-based scheme for the deployment of equipment supplied by private parties.

How many new berths?

One new berth was commissioned recently and the other is due for commissioning shortly. We also have proposals for construction of two additional jetties on the river front outside the impounded dock. Preliminary work has been initiated in respect of one of them. The other may have to wait as the experts are yet to clear its location. Meanwhile, several private firms including Tata Steel and others have shown interest in having their own captive jetties on the river front.

Why this scramble for river front sites for constructing jetties?

The reason is simple. Haldia being a river port, the ingress and egress of ships into the impounded dock are through the lock-gate and the ships can move in and out of the lock-gate only during high tide and only two tides are available in 24 hours and during each tide at best five to six vessels can be handled. This is a major problem. The lock-gate operation will not be needed for the river front jetties.

Can’t anything be done about the lock-gate? After all you’ve got so many berths within the impounded dock?

Yes, we’re trying to address the problem through both short-term and long-term measures. The short-term measures presuppose better management practices in the existing set-up by improving the human-related issues.

The Indian Institute of Port Management is currently undertaking a time and motion study to be ready soon. As part of long-term measures we contacted the British firm that built the lock-gate many years ago.

The firm has agreed to cooperate. One option is to ask the firm to make a fresh study; alternatively we might have to go for global tendering. All these issues are being sorted out. There is even a proposal for a second lock gate. But then we face many other problems, mostly related to river.

Such as …

For example, we’re unable to cope with our rising dredging requirement costing more than Rs 300 crore annually. We have entrusted maintenance dredging job with the state-owned Dredging Corporation of India. But DCI is often unable to fulfil its commitment.

We realise that DCI too has some genuine difficulties. Meanwhile, the shoaling problem in the Hooghly river gets worsened and with it the navigability of the river. As a result, more ships arrive with lower average parcel loads and Haldia becomes a high cost port.

What about the River Regulatory (RR) Scheme we’ve been hearing about for years?

The RR scheme designed to improve the navigability of the Hooghly river near Haldia dock remained virtually dormant for a long time. After I joined I initiated moves to obtain the early clearances from the appropriate authorities. The Chairman of Kolkata Port Trust too is trying his best.

At what stage is it?

Two more clearances, namely, the appraisal by the Planning Commission, which is a very rigorous exercise, and PIB clearance, also very critical, are awaited. The implementation of the scheme should take around one year. Once it is implemented, perhaps we can hope to get some relief.

Any other problem ...?

The mismatch of exports and imports has been a matter of concern to us. For example, iron ore is our major export item. Part of the ore is brought to the dock by railway rakes. We’re keen that rail transportation of the ore to the dock rises in coming days and the Railways too have promised sufficient number of rakes subject to adequate cargo inducement for back-loading. The rail transportation accounts for 46 per cent of the total iron ore exported through the dock, up from 34 per cent last year but right now bulk cargo imports through the dock are not enough for full back-loading. Hopefully, the present situation will change soon as the management of several steel plants, existing and proposed, have shown interest in routing their imports of bulk items through our dock. We’ve decided to reserve two berths for the steel sector. This is precisely the reason why we’re not unduly worried over the flight of crude traffic to Paradip from next fiscal.

What about the connectivity to the dock?

Frankly, the present state of connectivity leaves much to be desired. The National Highway 41 connecting the dock with NH 6 is in a terrible mess. Its doubling work by National Highway Authority of India did not progress as planned for various reasons. As the situation stands now, the work is unlikely to be completed before 2009.

sThe Railways, for whatever reasons, too does not seem to be interested in doubling the track leading to Haldia dock. But we’ve decided to modernise the rail system within the dock and have accordingly asked Rites to do a study. The roads within the dock too are being upgraded.

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