Leighton Welspun said it has completed construction of the berth at Visakhapatnam Port three months ahead of schedule and is in the process of wrapping up the balance work.

The company has bagged the contract to mechanise coal handling facilities and upgrade the general cargo berth at the outer harbour of the Visakhapatnam Port to cater to 2,00,000 dwt vessels.

The berth is 356 m long and 21 m wide and built to support three ship-unloading cranes.

The public-private partnership project, awarded in 2010, is on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis.

Welspun's contract includes civil, mechanical and electrical works for installation of a system to unload coal at the rate of 70,000 TPD by three ship un-loaders. The main challenge in executing the project was to ensure that there was no disruption to the existing berth. For this, the work had to be carried out in two phases.

Work continues on the buildings and terminal operational facilities with the balance of the contract works slated for completion in the next few weeks, it said.

The Vizag port contract is the first project for the company.

Recently, Welspun has been chosen to build the Vizhinjam container terminal in Kerala.

> murug@thehindu.co.in