Improvement of container traffic at Kolkata and Haldia Ports | INRnews
Kolkata Port being the major gateway port for the entire North Eastern Region, Nepal and the hinterland of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa, has great significance in the growing economy of the country. Concerned about the various impediments, the Ministry constituted a high powered committee under the Chairmanship of Capt. P V K Mohan, the senior most Member of the National Shipping Board
The committee has identified areas of improvement on both short and long term basis after arriving at the present working scenario and understanding the deficiencies in the existing systems and bottlenecks and has made several recommendations based on its findings to the Ministry today.
As part of the short term recommendations for improvement of Kolkata Dock Complex, the high powered committee has recommended induction of at least four Mobile Harbour Cranes (MHCs) preferably one each per berth, Augmentation of Rubber Tyred Gantry Crane (RTGC), Rail Mounted Gantry Cranes (RMGC) and Trailers, acquisition of modern tugs for efficient ship handling, uniform tariff structure for all container berths for harmonization and reduction of cost to trade. Other recommendations include providing six gates for the Netaji Subhash Dock (NSD) container terminal for speedy evacuation of container traffic, introduction of two shift system for Customs works for avoiding congestion, introducing Information Technology systems for better Yard management, abolishing mandatory 0.3 meters trim for all vessels and introduction of night navigation, nominate additional two berths for containers and use Kidderpore docks.
The committee has also recommended creating more yard space by demolishing the Lybian Warehouse and unused residential quarters near NSD gate no. 3. The warehouse at No. 2 and No. 3 NSD are also to be demolished to create more stacking area and facilitate direct delivery. A single window system is to be introduced to enable trade take various permissions from customs, port authorities and CONCOR etc for speedy clearance of import and export cargoes. As part of the long term strategy the committee has recommended for planning a dedicated alternate route from Kidderpore docks to the second hooghly bridge for evacuation of containers round the clock.
The recommendations made by the high powered committee for short term improvements at Haldia Dock Complex included Operations of lock gate to facilitate at least eight movements per tide to reduce waiting periods, and the Haldia port to take up entire container handling on its own to reduce terminal handling charges. Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) is to deploy additional tugs, give priority to container ships to avoid undue delays and earmark atleast two berths for container ships with a minimum length of 300 meters in total. The long term recommendations include a second lock gate for Haldia Dock Complex as an immediate priority and atleast one riverine jetty of 200 meters length dedicated to container traffic and expediting clearance of the long pending capital dredging proposal to improve draft at Haldia.
The high powered committee in its recommendations ascertained the need for development of the green field container terminal with minimum quay length of 600 meters on a global tender basis at the Diamond Harbour and to have adequate stack yard area, additional Rail line of approx. 2 kms for connecting Diamond Harbour Station for connection to enable speedy evacuation of containers, usage of IWT mode for evacuation of containers by riverine passage and initiation of the long outstanding river conservation project as the draft in the river will effect the tonnage and type of ships being handled.
Thiru. T. R. Baalu, said that his ministry will look into the recommendations of the committee and take necessary action at the earliest and ensure that all support facilities and improved infrastructure facilities are in place to meet the growing demands of the trade both at Kolkata and Haldia. Also, consultants of international repute will be appointed to prepare a detailed project report and to call for global tender to set up a dedicated container terminal at Diamond Harbour, Shri. T. R. Baalu, said. .
The other members of the committee were Mr. S.S. Hajara, CMD, Shipping Corporation of India, Mr. Lukose Vallatharai, Joint Director General of Shipping, Capt. L.K. Panda, Principal Officer MMD Kolkata and Mr. S. G. Thawani, Regional General Manager of SCI at Kolkata.
By INRnews Correspondent