The Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) on Wednesday said more than 3.5 lakh tonnes of cargo are lying stranded at Haldia port since operations have been stopped by private cargo handler Haldia Bulk Terminals (HBT) from September 25.

“As much as 3.52 lakh tonnes of cargo comprising non-coking (thermal) coal and limestone got stuck at the Haldia port. We have been getting calls to release this cargo at the earliest,” a KoPT official said.

This announcement came at a time when the ABG-LDA-run Haldia Bulk Terminals moved the Calcutta High Court seeking its intervention to maintain law and order at Haldia dock complex. HBT, which handled dry bulk cargo at two mechanised berths at Haldia port, was on October 11 served an “ultimatum” to resume operations within a week.

KoPT has already issued an emergency tender for the evacuation of the stranded cargo.

Both KoPT and ABG seem to have locked horns on this issue. KoPT officials on Monday hinted that the port authorities would think of a second option, if HBT fails to restart operations by October 19. On the other hand, ABG had clearly said that it would be tough for them to continue operations at Haldia without higher cargo volume.

Gurpreet Malhi, CEO of HBT, said that the company would not be in a position to reinstate the 275 terminated workers. Sources earlier claimed that HBT’s decision to sack 275 employees was one of the main reasons behind the recent impasse at Haldia port.

“Even though HBT has been demanding 9 million tonnes of cargo a year, it does not have adequate equipment to evacuate that much of cargo. If the current cargo handling model fails at berths No 2 and 8, we will have to design another model,” a KoPT official said on condition of anonymity.

> ayan.pramanik@thehindu.co.in

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