The Hindu Business Line : Sandhead trouble at Haldia

Haldia dock, it appears, will never be free from controversy. Only a few weeks ago, the situation arising out of the declining draft in the Hooghly near the dock and the shortage of dredgers hit headlines. No sooner had the controversy subsided, a new one has surfaced. The problem now is the bunching of the vessels at the sandheads, the mouth of the Hooghly. A few days ago, as many as 48 Haldia-bound vessels were stranded at the sandheads, and 27 of them, many without prop er documents, were due to be loaded with iron ore at the dock. But, as Kolkata Port Trust sources point out, the problem has not cropped up for the first time. In the past too, there have been times when the number of vessels waiting at the sandheads was higher. Inquiries reveal that the present problem was created by the non-availability of tugs used for towing vessels into the dock system. At Haldia, there are 10 tugs but not all of them are available for operation at any point of time. At the best of times, seven of them are in operation. Recently, the number of tugs fit for operation dropped to four. Once sent for repair, the tugs take a long time to come back, given the low efficiency of some of the repairing yards, particularly the one owned and run by the State Government. The problem, it is learnt, has been temporarily tackled by hiring a private tug and transferring one more each from Kolkata dock and the lighterage operation.

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