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Dhamra port, an all-weather deep port on the east coast of India built jointly by Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro, was formally inaugurated on Sunday by the Odisha Chief Minister, Mr Naveen Patnaik, who unveiled a plaque in the port jetty.
Mr K. Mohandas, Secretary in the Union Ministry of Shipping; Mr Sanjeeb Kumar Sahoo, Odisha Minister for Commerce and Transport; Mr Prafulla Samal, Odisha Minister for Tourism, Culture and Cooperation; Mr Arjun Sethi, MP; Mr B K Patnaik, Chief Secretary, and Mr Santosh Kumar Mohapatra, CEO, and other senior officials of The Dhamra Port Company Ltd, were present.
The Chief Minister was taken around to show unloading operations from a 180000 DWT capacity vessel from Australia which carried coal.
The Chief Minister expressed the hope that the new port would act as a catalyst for Odisha's infrastructure development and economic prosperity. Referring to the long-history of maritime activities in the area, he pointed out that way back in 1962 the first port in Odisha was commissioned at Paradip during the government led by his late father Biju Patnaik.
The CEO of Dhamra port, Mr Mohapatra, thanked the State government, the district administration and people of Bhadrak district for their valuable contribution and support in making Dhamra port project a dream come true. The port, the most cost-effective and efficient port of eastern India, was commissioned in a record time by adopting modern technology, he said. Dhama Port is a 50:50 joint venture project of L & T and Tata Steel.
Construction of the port began in 2007 and commercial operation in May 2011. Till date more than 50 ships have berthed at the Dhamra Port jetty with import cargo of about 2.7 million tonnes, which include coal and limestone.
In the first phase, Dhamra port has built two berths of 350 m long each and is equipped for an achievable discharge rate of 60,0000 tonnes a day and loading rate of 100,000 tonnes of dry bulk cargo daily. The port master plan provides for 13 berths, which would handle liquid, dry bulk, break bulk and containerized cargo.
The port has a deep draft of 17.5 metre which can handle cape size vessels up to 180000 DWT capacity. The Dhamra Port Company Ltd (DPCL) has built an 18 km channel to connect the port with deep sea and an 62-km fully electrified rail link to connect the port with the Howrah-Chennai main line for transportation of cargo.
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