The Hindu Business Line : Crude lighterage operation begins at Sandheads

KOLKATA port's crude lighterage operation, i.e. ship-to-ship discharge of crude from a huge mother vessel, either a Suezmax or an ultra large crude carrier, into smaller daughter vessels, has begun at the Sandheads, the mouth of the Hooghly river for the current fiscal .

The first vessel, with about 2,65,000 tonnes, discharged the crude and left some time in the third week of last month.

Then the operation remained suspended for several days due to inclement weather.

Thereafter, it resumed again and the second vessel, with 1,37,000 tonnes, also completed discharge.

With the weather situation having improved, port authorities hope to carry on with the operation uninterrupted till the middle of March next year. Normally, crude lighterage operation at the Sandheads is undertaken from the middle of October to the middle of March every fiscal.

In 2004-05, the throughput of crude lighterage operation at the Sandheads was around 4.6 million tonnes and it is likely to remain unchanged at that level in the current fiscal also, according to port sources.

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