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V. Sajeev Kumar

Kochi, Oct. 17 Kochi Port has invited expressions of interest from firms for the use of the spare capacity of the Cochin Oil Terminal (COT) as multi-liquid cargo jetty for loading/unloading of crude oil, petroleum products and other liquefied gas cargo.

The existing facility at COT, with estimated spare capacity of 75 per cent of the available berth and 10 million tonnes a year cargo handling capacity, is underutilised after the commissioning of the Single Point Mooring by BPCL-Kochi Refinery in December 2007.

The port, therefore, proposed to offer the spare capacity of COT to other interested potential users, senior officials said.

COT, an offshore terminal, is capable of handling 11,500 DWT tankers with a draft of 12.5 metres. The terminal, with a deep draft jetty, is currently used by BPCL-KR for receiving crude oil tankers. In addition to this, oil refining companies are also loading/unloading petroleum products through the terminal facility.

The terminal facility has four remote-operated hard arms for receiving/loading liquid cargo from/to ships. These arms are of 25.4 cm diameter and the present discharge capacity is 1,500 tonnes per hour. The terminal is connected with the exchange pit at North Tanker Berth and also equipped with a full-fledged fire-fighting facilities.

According to port officials, EoI can be submitted by a petroleum refinery, Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants (POL) marketing company, petroleum product trading company, other liquefied cargo trading company, shipping company handling liquid bulk cargo or importer/exporter of other liquid/liquefied gas cargo for utilising the spare capacity at COT through an agreement consistent with the exiting policy guidelines of the Union Government.

The applicant must utilise the spare capacity of COT only for loading/unloading of crude oil, POL products and other liquid cargo/liquefied gas cargo. Besides, the company should submit a detailed master plan and terminal utilisation pattern for approval.

Earlier, the Board meeting of the port had also discussed the matter and decided to examine the commercial and technical feasibility of connecting the COT with the existing tank farms in Willingdon Island through submarine pipelines for utilising the facility for different categories of liquid cargo.

Most of the tank terminal operators in the port area showed keen interest in using COT, the officials said, adding that Indian Oil Corporation wanted to utilise the existing facility for handling LPG. However, IOC was advised to conduct a feasibility study for handling LPG at COT, the officials said.

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