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In a first for eastern India, car-maker Hyundai is looking to explore the coastal route for movement of vehicles. Talks in this regard have been initiated with the Kolkata Port Trust, its Chairman, MT Krishna Babu, said here on Wednesday.
Finalisation of the project is expected over the next two months with 500 vehicles being moved in the first lot.
“Discussions are on with a domestic car-maker for movement of 500-odd cars. This is a part of the coastal cargo movement plan of the Centre and it aims to decongest the road network,” he told reporters during a press conference.
As of now the vessel, called as roll-on/roll-off, will load cars from Chennai and they will be unloaded either at Haldia Dock or Kolkata Dock.
Details of the project, which include the frequency of such shipments and size of the vessel, are still being worked out.
Currently, a similar initiative has been attempted by the car-maker between Chennai and Pipavav in Gujarat.
Bangladesh
The KoPT is also planning to start cargo operations to Bangladesh this month. According to Babu, an agreement has been signed between the two countries for coastal shipping and it will see empty cargo vessels come in from Chittagong.
Financials
The port will invest Rs 1,256 crore this fiscal across seven projects. Some of these include development of mooring facilities at Sandheads for transhipment (Rs 250 crore) and setting up of an outer riverine terminal (Rs 190 crore), among others.
While Rs 370 crore will be from its own resources, the remaining will come from private investors.
The KoPT, which includes both the Kolkata and Haldia dock systems, reported a net loss of Rs 148 crore (Rs 66 crore in FY-14) because of higher outgo towards pension funds and a reduction in dredging subsidy by the Centre.
However, for 2015-16, it reported an operating surplus of around Rs 604 crore, a near 29 per cent rise against the Rs 469 crore it reported in the year-ago period.
Total cargo throughput (Kolkata and Haldia put together) stood at 50.195 million tonnes for FY-16, an increase of over 8 per cent on the 46.293 million tonnes it reported in FY-15.
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