• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• Smartbuy

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Krishnapatnam port has the potential to become the country’s biggest port when all 42 berths are ready in the next five years with a total investment of Rs 10,000 crore.

K. V. Kurmanath

When Ms Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson of United Progressive Alliance (UPA), inaugurated the first phase of Krishnapatnam Port in Nellore district last week, it signalled a new era in the Indian shipping sector.

With a potential to become the biggest port in the country when all the 42 berths are ready in the next five years with a total investment of Rs 10,000 crore, the Port boasts of facilities to handle cape-size ships (which carry cargo to the tune of 1.2-1.5 lakh tonnes) — a first for the country.

The KPCL has set its eyes on becoming a gateway to the Asia-Pacific and Far East Asian countries. The company is promoted by the CVR Group that runs the Navayuga Engineering Company

“There is a huge dearth of handling capacity in the shipping sector in the country. Ships wait for days to get loaded and unloaded at all the major ports. This not only results in wastage of time for the user but also means huge outflows of foreign exchange in the form of demurrage,” Mr M. K. Padia, Chief Executive Officer of Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd (KPCL), told Business Line.

On the USP (unique selling proposition) of the port, he says it offers a better alternative for iron ore exporters from the Bellary belt. A special purpose vehicle has been formed in the PPP (public-private partnership) model to build a railway line that would connect with the main railway between the Chennai-Howrah broad-gauge line at Venkatachalam. The railway line would be ready by the year-end.

A 25-km six-lane road too is being laid to the port, connecting the National Highway 5.

Why should an exporter or importer prefer Krishnapatnam over the established Chennai Port?

“We will be closer to the iron ore belt after the rail-road connectivity is completed. Besides, a huge coal-based power capacity is being planned around the Port area. The tender provisions clearly spell out that the power plants will get coal imports from the Krishnapatnam port,” Mr C. Sasidhar, Director (Administration), says.

Krishnapatnam is among the first public-private ports in Andhra Pradesh to be given to a private party for development. The mandate for KPCL is to modernise the historical port, 24 km away from Nellore and 180 km from Chennai, one of the busiest ports in the country.

The KPCL is banking on two immediate major areas. First, the impending stoppage of dirty cargo handling at Chennai port, the painful delays there and the huge hub business that the Colombo Port enjoys. The Rs 1,200-crore first phase includes four berths — two to handle coal and one each for iron ore and general cargo. The company has roped in Howe (India) as consultant for the development of the port.

The phase-I could handle 14 million tonnes of iron ore, 7 mt of coal and two mt of general cargo a year.

“We will have closed warehouses with a size of 50,000 sq.m by December 2008 and another 50,000 sq.m by mid-2009 for agricultural commodities,” Mr Padia said.

The plan also provides for 23 lakh sq.m of open storage area for dry bulk cargo. The draft alongside the berths will remain 15 metres in the first two phases, the third phase would have a depth of 19 metres along side the berths.

The second phase would see addition of seven more berths. “In fact, the second and third phases are contiguous. We go on adding berths, depending on the demand,” he said.

The “all-weather port” will be equipped to handle containers, bulk cargo, break bulk cargo (such as granite) and petrochemicals.

The port is planning to employ Enterprise Port Management System (EPMS) connecting all activities in the port and enabling better efficiency in cargo handling.

Yet another important feature of the port is, it used a newly-developed cement blocks, called Kolos, that could withstand the tides better, protecting the backwater structures.

The Port, according to Mr C. V. Rao, the Chairman and Managing Director of the group, would be a focal point for industrial activity in the region.

The Government has already given the go-ahead for a special economic zone at a site abutting the port.

On July 17, Ms Sonia Gandhi also laid the foundation stone for a Rs 8,300-crore, 1,600 MW power plant being set up by AP Genco. A total of Rs 12,000 MW of power capacity would be coming up in the area.

More Stories on : Shipping | Andhra Pradesh

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

Stories in this Section
‘All clear’ sounded for the Krishnapatnam Port

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line