The Hindu Business Line : Heavy shoaling poses threat to Haldia dock

Problems galore
Ships are calling at Haldia with a lower average parcel load than before.
It is estimated that the average parcel load per ship has declined by several thousand tonnes.
Dredged spoil is right now dumped in the river itself.

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Kolkata Jan. 24 Heavy shoaling in the Hooghly river at Auckland near Haldia has posed a serious threat to the dock, so much so that the depth of the river has dropped by about 0.7 metres to 4.8 metres, forcing the dock authorities to announce a draft cut.

As a result, as the dock sources point out, the ships are calling at Haldia with a lower average parcel load than before. It is estimated that the average parcel load per ship has declined by several thousand tonnes.

Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT), under which the Haldia dock comes, therefore has taken up the matter with the Dredging Corporation of India (DCI), whose acting Chairman and Managing Director is to come here shortly to discuss with the port management the steps needed for averting the crisis.

Dredging issues

DCI, which is responsible for the maintenance dredging in the Hooghly river, permanently deploys five of its dredgers in the river and one of them, Dredge XI, it is now learnt, has been sent to Auckland to tackle the shoaling problem. Perhaps, according to experts, the deployment of a cutter suction dredger in addition to Dredge XI might have helped the situation improve.

But where is the dredger? DCI's hands are full. After all, it is also engaged in massive dredging work for the Sethusamudram project.

The issue of the disposal of the dredged spoil is no less critical. Right now, the spoil is dumped in the river itself. Instead, according to experts, there should be shore disposal.

Shore disposal

The concept of shore disposal, though not new to the port authorities, has not made much headway at Kolkata port for various reasons. First, it is a costly proposition, but more importantly, land along the side of the river for dumping dredged material is difficult to get.

KoPT had asked for about 2,000 acres of land at Nandigram from the West Bengal Government for dumping. However, the prevailing political situation surrounding land acquisition at Nandigram has pushed the KoPT's scheme into uncertainty.

The shoaling problem, according to experts, would not have surfaced had the River Regulatory scheme, prepared a few years ago, been implemented on time. However, the scheme has been lying with the authorities concerned in Delhi for a long time with no clear picture available as yet about its fate.

Earlier, KoPT used to boast of a fleet of dredgers of its own but not any more. Two of its present dredgers being very old cannot be operated properly. There is a proposal for the acquisition of a new dredger by the port authorities, but the prohibitive cost of new acquisition has forced the port authorities to go slow over the plan, it is learnt.

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