The Hindu Business Line : From lighters to mega box ships

It has been a long journey for the Chennai port, which is celebrating 125 years of commercial operations this year. The Madras harbour came into existence as a roadstead, a sheltered offshore anchorage area for ships, as early as 1639, with a single pier jutting into the sea, though it was over 200 years later that actual commercial operations began in the Port of Madras.

The little fishing village called Chenna Patnam, founded in 1639, gained prominence in the early part of the 18th Century, when the East India Company was active on the East Coast. The Company's ships were anchored about a quarter mile offshore and the cargo to and from the vessels was transported through small lighters called Masula boats. As the loss of cargo during such operations was high, it was proposed to build a pier to receive larger craft.

An iron screw-pile pier was built in 1861 to a length of 1,100 ft, perpendicular to the shore, and two masonry breakwaters (each 3,000 feet long) were almost complete in November 1881 when a severe cyclonic storm completely destroyed the work that had been done. Restoration work resumed in 1885 under the guidance of a Mr Parkes, who had built the Karachi Harbour, and was eventually completed in 1896. Madras, at last, had a man-made harbour.

By 1900 it was obvious that much more work needed to be done to make the harbour a safe place of anchorage. In 1904, Sir Francis Spring, who had retired as the Secretary of the Madras Government's Railways Department, was appointed to oversee the better development of the harbour. In 1905 he became the Chairman of the newly created Madras Port Trust and by the time he left in 1919, he had created a harbour that was able to handle the traffic until well into the 1950s.

The port's quays (berths) were constructed at different periods — the South Quay I in 1913, the five West Quay berths between 1916 and 1920, the North Quay in 1931 and the South Quay II in 1936, in the Inner Harbour, later christened Dr Ambedkar Dock.

From handling a meagre volume of cargo in the early years, consisting chiefly of imports of oil and motors and the export of groundnuts, granite and ores, the port is moving towards handling 50 lakh tonnes of cargo this year.

After Independence

The "wet dock" was inaugurated on November 6, 1964 by then Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri. The dock was christened Jawahar Dock in memory of Jawaharlal Nehru. The Bharathi Dock was originally constructed as an outer harbour to handle vessels up to (-)16.2 metre draft.

An oil jetty to handle crude oil imported by the Manali Oil Refinery (now Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd) was constructed in 1970.

An iron ore berth was constructed in the same dock in 1974 for exporting iron ore to Japan and other East Asian countries.

Container terminal

In the 1970s the Madras Port Trust started handling containers in the inner harbour and, as container traffic kept increasing, a container terminal of 380 metres length was constructed at the Bharathi Dock in 1983, as the country's first full-fledged container hub, with a storage yard of 51,000 sq m and a container freight station of 6,000 sq m. The terminal was provided with tow shore cranes and other facilities required for a container terminal.

Subsequently, the terminal was extended by 220 metres in 1991 with two additional shore cranes and matching infrastructure facilities. With the huge increase in container traffic, the terminal was further extended by 285 metres in 2002. This container terminal of 885 metres total berth length, with a back-up area, was privatised under a concession agreement with the Chennai Container Terminal Private Ltd on a BOT (build, own and transfer) basis for 30 years from November 2001.

In 2005-06, the port handled more than 7 lakh TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units) and will reach 9 lakh TEUs this fiscal. With the commissioning of the second container terminal, volumes are expected to go up significantly.

From 1881 to 1945, the cargo handled in Madras port varied from 0.5 million tonnes to 1 million tonnes. By 1979-80, the traffic touched 10 million tonnes, and increased to 15 million tonnes in 1984-95. By 1991-92, the volume was 25 million tonnes, touching 41 million tonnes in 2000-01. Though there was a slump in the next three years, the port recovered, to handle 47.25 million tonnes in 2005.06. In the current fiscal, the cargo handled is expected to cross 50 million tonnes.

Car exports

With the number of car manufacturing companies located around Chennai, the potential for large-scale car exports through pure car carriers is huge.

Car exports, largely of Hyundai vehicles, started with the export of 3,360 cars in the year 2000.

Hyundai's car exports touched a modest level of 5,262 cars in 2001-02, and are set to cross 1.5 lakh vehicles by the fiscal ending March 2007. The volume is expected to increase to around 3 lakh cars after Hyundai's second plant starts operations.

Concession agreement

The Chennai Port Trust (ChPT) also signed a 12-year concession agreement with Hyundai Motor India Ltd for continuing exports of Hyundai cars through the Chennai port. The port trust has agreed to give the Korean auto major concessions in wharfage rates and vessel-related charges. "Hyundai was considering Krishnapatnam and Ennore as alternative ports for car exports. However, we retained them by offering concessions," said Mr K. Suresh, Chairman, ChPT.

Mr Suresh signed the agreement with Mr H.S. Lheem, Managing Director, Hyundai Motor India, at a meeting to celebrate 125 years of the port's starting commercial operations.

Other projects

Agreements for five other projects — three at Ennore port and two in Chennai — were also signed at the meeting. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr M. Karunanidhi, laid the foundation stone for the Rs 492-crore second container terminal at the Chennai port.

According to Mr Suresh, the port is conscious of its responsibilities towards a clean and green environment and specifically to the city of Chennai. The port would become a "clean port" once the dirty cargo — coal and iron ore — moves fully to Ennore in the next few years.

Recently, the port commissioned pollution control measures to suppress the dust pollution emanating from handling dusty cargoes.

The weeklong celebration in connection with the port's 125th anniversary will feature conferences and exhibitions.