The Hindu Business Line : Kandla port barge to be ready soon

Kandla port’s barge handling facility at its satellite port Tuna will be shortly ready. Built at a cost of Rs 12 crore, entirely funded by the port authorities, the facility, comprising a berth, backup area and the connectivity, is expected to bring to the port an additional traffic of about one million tonnes (mt) annually. Tuna port, when ready, will have a total of 12 berths to be built at an estimated cost of Rs 1,200 crore. In the first phase there will be four berths estimated to cost Rs 600 crore. The proposal for the first phase work, to be implemented through the PPP route, is awaiting the approval of the authorities concerned. Meanwhile, the Chairman of the port sounded bullish about the traffic prospects in the current year. Not without reasons though. At 24.05 million tonnes so far, the traffic growth compared with the same period last year has been more than 5 mt or about 32 per cent. The throughput of fertiliser has been particularly good and the port authorities are pinning their hope on petroleum products, chemicals and other cargoes. At this rate, in the current fiscal, the Chairman hoped, should end up with a traffic volume of 60 mt compared with 53 mt in 2006-07.

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