The Hindu Business Line : Shortage of tugs hampers Haldia dock operations

The shortage of tugs in Haldia dock has wreaked havoc on trade and shipping lines, according to shipping interests sources here. As on Monday, the number of ships waiting at the Sandheads rose to 52 just because there were not enough tugs to tow them inside the dock.

Demurrages

“The average demurrage/ vessel a day comes to about $10,000, totalling more than $5,00,000 (Rs 2.5 crore) a day for the waiting vessels despite there being vacant berths inside the dock”, observe the sources pointing out that the situation has been continuing for nearly a month.

For smooth operation, the Haldia dock needs at least 10 tugs, the sources estimate.

Operational tugs

As the situation stands now, five tugs are working but only one of them, “Laxman Sen”, can be said to be fully operational while four others, namely, “Rani Siromani”, “Tamralipta”, “Bijoy Singha” and “ Shaktiman”, are partially operational. All these five vessels belong to the dock authorities and manned and operated by them.

The Haldia dock’s three other tugs, namely, “Betor”, “Sasanka” and “Ballal Sen”, are out of commission — “Betor” for last two years and in the dry dock for the past six months, “Sasanka” is in dry docks for past six months and “Ballal Sen”, too for a long time.

Shortage of pilots

The Kolkata Port Trust had hired two tugs, “Parsuram” and “Birsingha” from private firms to tide over the present crisis but both of them are out of commission now – “Birsingha” for the past two weeks and “Parsuram” for more than one year, the sources add.

The problem has been compounded by the shortage of pilots.

“Even loaded vessels, carrying iron ore and due for departure, would often get detained inside the dock as pilots would often not be available for sailing them out”, resent the sources.

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