East coast ports set to play major role in coal imports

The emerging importance of east coast ports was in focus at a seminar, East Coast Ports Vision 2020, organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry here on Friday.

Inaugurating, Capt P.V.K. Mohan, Chairman, National Shipping Board, drew attention to the changing perception on east coast ports among those who had till recently dismissed them as unimportant. “The country's coal imports will shortly rise to 200 million tonnes annually and the bulk of the imports will be through these ports,” Capt Mohan observed. He, however, felt that the non-major ports too on the east coast would play a critical role and the major ports must, therefore, get their act together.

Level playing field

“The profile of the eastern seaboard will change with the creation of additional cargo-handling facilities,” he said, emphasising that coastal shipping and inland water transportation, though long neglected, were now poised to play a vital role. The country's maritime agenda, being finalised by the Ministry, would emphasise on level-playing field for both major and non-major ports, and the role of coastal shipping and IWT, he said. “The development of environment-friendly coastal shipping and IWT would help the country earn carbon credit, paving the way for billions of dollars of foreign direct investment,” he added.

Mr S. Hajara, Chairman and Managing Director, Shipping Corporation of India, explained why east coast ports were becoming important for the shipping sector. Apart from coal import, oil exploration and production in the KG basin would increase, boosting demand for maritime components. Automobile components hubs were coming up on the hinterland of the east coats ports and, capping it all, the growth potential of the country's eastern neighbours were much higher than those on the west. “Boosting trade with eastern neighbours through west coast ports is not only sub-optimal but also less efficient,” he observed.

Hooghly's dredging troubles

Mr M.L. Meena, Chairman of Kolkata Port Trust, referred to the myriad problems faced by port authorities due to the poor navigability of the Hooghly river. “The navigability is maintained at a huge dredging cost, more than Rs 300 crore annually, entirely provided by the Centre; but now, questions are being raised by the Planning Commission and others about the rationale of spending so much when the navigability is not improving,” he said. He outlined several short-term and long-terms measures including setting up new cargo-handling facilities to cope with the problems.

Mr S.K. Mohapatra, Chief Executive Officer, Dhamra Port, explained the problems in setting up new ports in the north of Bay Bengal, the most important being availability of deep draft. “In the south, 20-metre draft may be available within 10 km from the coast but in northern Orissa it will take 40 km and in West Bengal 200 km,” he said. Yet, new ports were coming up and would continue to do so, he observed. Dhamra Port was commissioned in May and has so far handled 0.6 million tonnes traffic, all imported coal, and 60 rakes.

Storage needs

Mr P. Guha, Chief General Manager, Coal Videsh, Coal India Ltd, said the country's coal import would be around 142 million tonnes in the current fiscal, up from 80 mt in 2010-11, and would touch 450 mt or so by the end of the Twelfth Plan. It was not enough to merely create port facilities, he observed, emphasising that creation of storage and connectivity was equally important.

Mr P.K. Bishnoi, Chairman and Managing Director, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, explained why most of the new steel plants were coming up in the East and why the eastern region and the east coast ports would prove critical for the country's steel sector.

COMMENT NOW