The Hindu Business Line : Vizag port gearing up for competition

Visakhapatnam, Sept 30 The Visakhapatnam port, which ruled the roost for several successive years as the number one port in the country, lost its pride of place last year (2007-08) to Kandla by a very narrow margin.

Now that the Gangavaram private port is ready for inauguration soon, the future is going to be pretty tough for the public sector port.

The Gangavaram port, being built by a private consortium led by Mr D.V.S. Raju, is expected to be inaugurated in October. Five berths have been built and are ready for operations and already three to four vessels have been handled at the new port on a trial basis. The consortium has spent Rs 1,800 crore or so in the first phase building up the berths and other facilities.

Mechanised handling facilities have also been created at the port and there is a conveyor belt to the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, which is a major client for the new port.

It is anticipated that during the first year of operations itself, the new port may take away close to five million tonnes of cargo from the established port and subsequently the going may get tougher for the VPT.

In the backdrop, the VPT is gearing up for the competition and is making efforts to improve the infrastructure at the port and expedite the ongoing projects.

Mechanised handling at the outer harbour

The VPT is taking up some of the long-pending projects such as the upgrading of the general cargo berth at the outer harbour and installation of mechanised coal handling facilities.

Global tenders have been invited for the project costing Rs 410 crore and they may be finalised by November or December. After completion, it will be possible to handle the bigger vessels at the outer harbour.

Currently, vessels up to 1.5 lakh dwt are being handled at the outer harbour berth and it will be possible to go up to two lakh dwt vessels.

Besides, pollution will also be mitigated.

Further, the port has also taken up deepening the channel to inner harbour to handle the bigger vessels. All these steps, it is hoped, will improve the performance of the VPT.

Charges

The Gangavaram port, being in the private sector, will be able to fix its own handling charges but the VPT has to go by the rates fixed by the Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP). To that extent, the main port lacks the flexibility, but it can make up for it by improving its efficiency.

Further, the VPT has to search for new cargoes to compete with the new port.