The Supreme Court has directed the Chennai Port Trust (ChPT) to come up with a comprehensive proposal with technical inputs to show that it can handle dusty cargo such as coal and iron ore with zero pollution.

The court was recently hearing a Special Leave Petition filed by the port trust to review the Madras High Court’s judgment banning the port from handling dusty cargo to curb pollution in the city, says a press release from ChPT.

In May 2011, coal and iron ore handling was shifted to the nearby Kamarajar port in Ennore following the Court order.

ChPT will submit the proposal to the apex court by the July first week, the release said.

Meanwhile, the Chennai port handled 52.54 million tonne of cargo in 2014-15, an increase by 2.81 per cent over the previous financial year. This was due to increase in volume of cargoes like ferrous slag, limestone and steel.

Container volume rose by 5.72 per cent to 1.5 million twenty foot equivalent units. Chennai port is the second largest container handling facility among major ports after JNPT. Efforts are being taken to increase the number of mainline vessel call at the two container terminals.

Depth increase

On completion of the capital dredging work in Ambedkar Dock, the depth at the second container terminal will increase to 15.5 m, which will encourage calls by larger cellular container vessels.

The fresh Request for Qualification for the Outer Harbour project is being formulated after discussions with prospective bidders. The project will cater to a cargo mix comprising containers, dry, break bulk and liquid cargo over the long term. When commissioned, the port’s capacity will exceed 100 MT per annum.

Work on the barge handling facility at Bharathi Dock will commence soon as environmental clearance for the project has been received. The bids for the multi-cargo terminal at JD (East) are expected shortly, the release said.

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