It took BHEL nearly five months to move it, but the PSU finally transported a 310-tonne ‘stator,' a key piece of equipment to generate power for the North Chennai Thermal Power Station, from Haridwar through the Ennore port.

Ennore Port Ltd on its part had to create a separate platform near its iron ore terminal to accommodate the barge that carried the stator, which is a key part of a power generation plant.

As the existing road could not be used due to the stator's huge size, the port had to create a separate route to help the oversized cargo trailer truck pass through.

The equipment was flagged off from BHEL's Haridwar plant on January 23. The equipment was brought to Mundra port by road and from there, it was transported through a barge, which reached Ennore on May 11.

It was a complicated logistical exercise as in September, the trailer truck carrying the stator fell in to the Kuala River near Binapur village, Madhya Pradesh. Later, BHEL decided to move it through a combination of road and sea.

In fact, BHEL and Ennore port were earlier engaged in a face-off on the handling of the consignment at the port.

Ennore port feared the cargo, if brought in a barge, might damage the wharf, which was recently built to handle large volumes of cars. The port wanted BHEL to move the cargo through a specialised project cargo ship that would have a self loader. In fact, Mr S. Velumani, Chairman, Ennore Port Ltd, had earlier told Business Line that port authorities were not against the BHEL generator being brought into the port per se , but not on a barge. The berth was, in fact, built keeping in mind the heavy-cargo requirements of Toshiba, which has its turbine-generator plant near the port. However, finally, it was decided that a special platform would be created to handle the stator, said an official of the port. The equipment is likely to reach the station on Wednesday.

>raja@thehindu.co.in

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