Visakhapatnam port has, so far, handled 27 million tonnes of cargo during the current financial year against 24 mt during the last fiscal, according to Mr Ajeya Kallam, Port Chairman.

He was reviewing the performance of the port here on Monday, after hoisting the flag on the occasion of the Independence Day. He said the port had handled 68.04 mt of cargo during 2010-11 and it stood second among major ports in the country, after Kandla. A record of 37.9 mt of cargo was moved through the Railways during the year, he added.

The highest monthly cargo of 6.87 mt was handled during June this year, Mr Kallam said. There was shortfall in import of fertilisers due to increase in international prices this year. He said the Ministry had fixed a target of 67 mt for the current fiscal, keeping in mind the non-availability of berths due to ongoing repair works and also due to the fact that new berths had been taken up in the private-public partnership mode. The port was confident of exceeding the target and reaching 70 mt or so, he said.

He congratulated the Visakha Container Terminal Ltd and the Visakha Seaports Ltd, the private operators in the port, for their performance during 2010-11. Visakha Container Terminal had handled a record quantity of 1,45,000 TEUs in 2010-11 and Visakha Seaports had handled 6.43 mt. He urged both the private operators to bring about further improvement in performance.

Referring to the port scenario in Andhra Pradesh, Mr Kallam said that out of 111 mt of traffic handled at the ports in the State, 43 mt of cargo was handled by the non-major ports, with Visakhapatnam being the sole major port. However, he said, the Union Government was planning to set up another major port in the State.

Ongoing works

He reviewed the progress of the ongoing works in the port taken up at a cost of more than Rs 3,000 crore, several of them in the PPP mode. The strengthening of the general cargo berth (GCB) to handle 2 lakh DWT vessels was progressing briskly. The port had developed an alternative facility at the ore berth for uninterrupted coal handling. “For installation of mechanised handling facilities for fertilisers at EQ-7 berth, we will be able to award the project soon. We are awaiting security clearance. For handling of iron ore with mechanised facilities at WQ 1 berth in the inner harbour, a meeting will be held by the Ministry shortly. For development of EQ-1 berth with mechanised handling facilities, a concession agreement was signed on August 1. For development of EQ 1A berth, the agreement will be signed by the month-end,” he said.

He said the two 50-tonne tugs were expected to be delivered by the Hindusthan Shipyard Ltd here by the end of September. The port had sent proposals to the Ministry for development of truck parking terminal and a multi-modal logistics park as a joint venture. The approval of the Ministry for outer harbour dredging and for upgrading iron ore handling facilities to cater to 2 lakh DWT vessels may be received shortly, he said.

In accordance with the maritime agenda, the total investment in the port during the next decade would be around Rs 14,000 crore, of which around Rs 8,000 crore would be through the PPP mode. There was also a proposal to develop a satellite port at Bheemunipatnam, he added.

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