By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, NOV 17, 2013: THE Minister of Shipping, Mr G.K. Vasan, has dedicated two terminals of the Kandla Port to the nation. Speaking on the occasion at a function in Bangalore yesterday, he said that this port since its inception and especially in the last decade has grown from strength to strength fuelling growth of Kutch, Gujarat and India. Through these two terminals -Multi Purpose Cargo berth No.15 and IFFCO barge jetty, a capacity four MMTPA gets added with an investment of Rs.216 crore.

Six concession agreements were also signed to add a capacity of 13.39 MMTPA to the Kandla Port, with an investment of Rs. 471 crores on this occasion. The minister said the central Government has adopted a conscious policy of inviting private investment through PPP mode to meet the increasing demand of maritime infrastructure of the country. Mr Vasan said his ministry has taken a number of steps in the last five years and come out with various bold policy initiatives to rapidly modernize and develop the ports and maritime sector so that it can sustain and accelerate the current growth momentum in the country. He said in 2012-13 alone, a record number of 32 projects for an estimated investment of around Rs. 6700 crores, were awarded. For the current year, a target for award of 30 projects at an estimated investment of more than Rs. 26,000 crore was set in the maritime sector.

The Minister pointed out that the Kandla Port is a tidal port and is limited by draught restrictions and increasing draught beyond a limit is not likely to be economical. He said the novel idea of introducing floating cranes in the mid-sea for Kandla Port by inviting private operators through competitive bids and on revenue sharing basis needs to be appreciated.

He complimented the concessionaires, M/s AV Joshi & Co., M/s. Aditya Marine Ltd., M/s Balaji Heavy Lifters Pvt.Ltd., M/s. Rishi Shipping, M/s. Frost International Ltd. and M/s. IMC Ltd. for coming forward and participating in these capacity addition and modernisation projects of Kandla Port that were signed yesterday.

A concession agreement was also signed for one more liquid jetty and bunkering facility at Kandla Port as it is already an important destination for liquid cargo handling. This project will reduce the waiting time and turnaround time for the liquid vessels and will further increase the cargo handling capacity of the port.

Kandla port handled 94 million tons of cargo last year and is aiming to cross 100 million this year. With these new projects mobile harbour cranes besides the floating cranes will be introduced for faster evacuation and mechanization and it will improve Kandla Port’s productivity and throughput.