The Hindu Business Line : Work begins on Rs 1,600-cr Phase-II of Karaikal port

Chennai, April 16 Even as the first phase of construction of the Karaikal port is nearing completion, Karaikal Port Ltd, the company that is building the port, has begun work on the larger Phase-II.

The second phase will consume all of Rs 1,600 crore, as against Rs 450 crore for Phase-I. In the first phase, space has been created for two ships to berth and after the second, there will be room for three more. Phase-II will also involve mechanisation of the port and further deepening of the waters to 16.5 metres. Right now, the port has a draft (depth) of 9.5 metres, which will be raised to 14.5 metres by July. Six dredgers are on the job.

Karaikal Port Ltd is a special purpose vehicle floated by Marg Ltd for putting up the port project. As the first phase, the second also will be implemented at a debt-equity mix of 73:27.

Handling capacity

When the second phase is completed, in two years from now, the port’s handling capacity will rise to 25 million tonnes, from 4 million tonnes now.

The port is hemmed in by two jetties — one that belongs to Sanmar on the North and the other of Chennai Petroleum Corporation on the South.

As such, there is not much scope for raising the quay length, but Marg’s Chairman, Mr G.R.K. Reddy, says that the port’s handling capacity would be raised by mechanisation, rather than by increasing the number of berths. Eventually, Karaikal will have nine berths.

The port, which was formally inaugurated on Wednesday, is described as “operationally ready” and features 2.4 lakh sq. metres of back-up space and 10,000 sq metres of covered warehouse.

Demand

Mr Reddy said that there was good demand for the port’s services, mainly from the cement companies in Tamil Nadu, who need to bring in coal and ship out cement. He said that the port was initially planned for 12 metre draft — the plan to deepen it to 16.5 metres is upon demand from potential customers.

Further, Karaikal lies in the middle of the Tamil Nadu coast, midway between the two deepwater ports of the State —Chennai and Tuticorin. Mr Reddy observed that Chennai is saturated and Tuticorin has draft issues (it has a rocky bottom at 13 metres and hence deepening is very difficult).

The port received its first cargo on Wednesday — cargo that was meant for the port itself. The German vessel, Beluga Fanfare, brought the port two Austria-made Liebherr cranes, each weighing 400 tonnes. They were lifted out of the vessel and put on the ground by two on-board cranes.

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