The Hindu Business Line : Kochi to replace, strengthen old structures in berths

Kochi, Nov 1 To meet the growing requirements of the trade, the Cochin Port Trust has chalked out an ambitious plan for replacement and renewal of old structures in berths as well as to maintain a uniform draught of 12.5 metres in all its berths.

The Port Chairman, Mr N. Ramachandran, told Business Line some of the existing structures in the berths are very old and require urgent replacement.

These structures were constructed at a time when cargo was handled as head loads. The objective is to strengthen the structures to make cargo handling operations easier, especially handling bulk and break bulk cargoes, he said.

The port, as part of this, had taken up the work of reconstruction of BTP Jetty near the Mattanchery Wharf area to widen it by 23 metres from the present 15 metres. The work will be completed by December next year. The port is also planning to replace the old structures in the North Coal Berth and re-construct it by 300 metres as an extension to the BTP jetty. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 22 crore and it is expected to be completed by the end of 2008.

With the completion of the work there the BTP jetty would have 323 metres width. Besides, the draught in the channel facing these berths will also be increased to 12.5 metres from the existing 10.5 metres to cater to larger vessels.

According to the Chairman, the port has to look for various other alternatives to increase its revenues once the container trans-shipment terminal project at Vallarpadam starts functioning. To meet the situation, the port has to concentrate more on bulk cargo handling and it is imperative to strengthen the existing berths, he said adding, that the entire work in BTP, NCB combined with the reconstruction of the Mattanchery Wharf is expected to be completed by the end of 2008.

There are also plans to strengthen the structures in Q-5 to Q-7 berths in the Ernakulam wharf as well as to deepen the channel there to 12.5 metres, he said.

Regarding the commencement of capital dredging work for the Vallarpadam project, he said that the port would start the work once it received the final date of commissioning of the Vallarpadam terminal.

The dredging work to deepen the channel to 14.5 metres has to be coincided with the ICTT project and there is no point in starting the work much earlier. If the dredging starts early, it will not be possible to maintain the draught in view of the siltation in the channel.

All the technical and geological studies prior to dredging have been completed and the report has been sent to the Union Environment Ministry for approval, he said.

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