Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) and ABG Haldia Bulk Terminals (AHBT) have agreed to arrive jointly at a solution to the vexed issue of latter’s under-utilisation of berths at Haldia.
KoPT had moved the Calcutta High Court last week after AHBT last month threatened to stop operations of its two berths at Haldia, unless the port authority committed minimum guaranteed tonnage for handling.
“We (ABG and KoPT) have agreed to bring in a mechanism for optimum utilisation of these two berths within the ambit of our agreement,” Manish Jain, Chairman of KoPT, told
Gurpreet Malhi, CEO of AHBT, said in a statement that both have come to an agreement “to maximise utilisation of the equipment.”
The terms of the agreement followed the High Court, Malhi added. The key terms included that all vessels carrying dry bulk cargo arriving at Haldia Dock Complex (HDC), “shall necessarily be allocated to berth nos. 2 or 8 (of AHBT).” However, if both berth nos. 2 and 8 are engaged in ship-shore operations (or vice-versa), the next arriving vessel may be allocated to berths other than the berths 2 and 8, according to AHBT statement.
The terms also said this will be implemented without affecting the existing minimum guaranteed tonnage offered by other berth operators at HDC’s berth nos. 4A & 12.
AHBT, a joint venture between ABG-LDA Bulk Handling Pvt Ltd and KoPT, had demanded minimum of 7.5 lakh tonnes of dry bulk cargo a month.
It handles about 4.5 lakh tonnes at berth No 2 and 8 at the Haldia dock complex.