Concerned over the shortage of labour, the Kochi Port has decided to mechanise the fertiliser handling system so as to improve the efficiency and productivity of the bagging, which will enable the port to handle more materials.
The port has floated tenders for procuring an automatic bagging system comprising hoppers, feeding conveyors, weighing, bagging and stitching units. The proposed bagging unit will have a minimum capacity to produce 600 bags of 50 kg per hour, port officials said.
The decision comes in the wake of the inordinate delay in clearing imported fertilisers from the port’s godowns.
The fertiliser importing companies such as FACT and Indian Potash Ltd had voiced their concern over the delay in clearing consignments.
About 49,500 tonnes of fertiliser comprising urea, potash that had arrived at the port in three shipments during November and December were still lying at the port godowns, the officials said.
According to port officials, the finished fertiliser handled by the port is about 1 lakh tonnes per year. Each shipment is about 30,000 tonnes, which are stored in 6 godowns located within the port. The fertilisers stored in heaps in the godown are then bagged and despatched from the port. At present, the bagging is done manually, which is a time consuming process and it has been informed that about 10 persons are required to bag about 75 tonnes per shift of 8 hours.
Manpower for bagging is being supplied by the Kerala Head Load Workers Welfare Board (KHWWB). Since KHWWB could not supply adequate labour, a joint meeting was convened by the Port Trust Chairman with the Secretary, Ministry of Labour, and other stakeholders. It had been decided to deploy willing workers of other pools for bagging.
Even after this arrangement, the supply was only around 40 workers per shift against the demand of 100 workers. This resulted in undue delay in bagging and despatch, and the cargo was held up in the godowns for longer periods. It was adversely affecting the storage capacity and the resultant underutilisation of the facilities. This also affected the availability of fertilisers to the farmers in time, the officials added.