The Hindu Business Line : ‘Gangavaram port launch to be delayed’

The commissioning of Gangavaram port, due in June, will be delayed, according to a spokesman for Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) that owns and runs Vizag steel plant. “We’re not sure if it will be ready before the end of the monsoon,” said the spokesman. RINL, it may be noted, will be the major user of the port. An estimated four million tonnes (mt) of RINL’s imports annually, comprising about 3.3 mt of coking coal and another 0.8 mt of limestone currently being handled at Visakhapatnam port, are supposed to be diverted to Gangavaram port when commissioned.

The throughput will rise with the capacity expansion of the Vizag steel plant to 6.2 mt in 2011-12 and further to 16 mt in 2020.

Conveyor system

The import is to be transported from the port to the RINL plant by a conveyor system to be constructed by the port. The conveyor system, it was indicated, is not ready yet. The construction of the berth is ready but certain small jobs still remained to be done.

Port charges issue

Also, as it was pointed out, Gangavaram port authorities were yet to settle the issue of port charges with RINL authorities.

“Discussion in this regard is in progress, and hopefully, we’ll arrive at a settlement within a month or so,” said the spokesman, adding, “each side is trying to extract as much as possible from the other”.

Since there would be mechanical handling facility at Gangavaram port, the spokesman hoped that the daily discharge of imports there would be at least 50,000 tonnes compared with 15,000 tonnes at Visakhapatnam port at present.

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