The Hindu Business Line : Vizag port: A good half-year

THE Visakhapatnam port, No 1 among the major ports for the past five years, has had a good half-year, handling more than 26 million tonnes of cargo by September end. The port authorities are confident that the target of 55 million tonnes for the fiscal can be achieved and may even be surpassed. Yet, all is not rosy, and the port faces some problems with competition emerging in the form of the Gangavaram private port nearby. The Vizag port authorities are gearing for the challenges ahead.

One of the problems faced by the port is the channel to the inner harbour, which does not permit the passage of large — Panamax — vessels. The Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) has invited bids on behalf of the Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT), and the Hyderabad-based Dhatri Engineering Company has been chosen for taking up rock dredging and deepening the channel. The dredging work has been delayed to some extent by the rains during the past two months. The inner harbour berths would have to be strengthened to handle the larger vessels.

Ore handling complex: The iron ore handling complex (OHC) has been functioning fairly well, the occasional hitch notwithstanding. But it needs upgradation and capacity expansion. A team from Japan visited the port recently and a project is in the offing, at a cost of roughly Rs 200 crore, to upgrade the OHC and improve the other infrastructure at the port to handle more iron ore.

The conveyer belt for handling iron ore was set up by Japanese technological assistance. Traffic on the Kothavalasa-Kirandul line has been disrupted by frequent landslides. In spite of these hitches, the port has been doing well on the iron ore export front. In the first half of the current year, 67.70 lakh tonnes of ore was exported against 58.16 lakh tonnes in the corresponding previous period. In 2004-05, some 16.5 million tonnes of iron ore and pellets were exported from the port.

Container cargo: An ambitious target of 60,000 TEUs has been set for the current year at the private sector container terminal here against the achievement of 45,549 TEUs last year, the highest ever. In the first half of the year, 3.26 lakh tonnes of container cargo was handled against 2.49 lakh tonnes in the corresponding previous period.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Rolls-Royce's Trent engines — Giving a thrust to the aircraft

Singapore Airlines to ply 4 flights a week to Hyderabad

Vizag port: A good half-year

Tuticorin port, NLC tie up for thermal plant

AILBIEA turns five

Rail freight corridor — RITES report by year-end