Kandla Port

Kandla Port

                                                                           

    Kandla Port Trust, India's busiest major port in recent years, is gearing to add substantial cargo handling capacity with private sector participation. The west coast port handled 72.225 million tonnes of cargo in 2008-09, over 11 per cent more than 64.920 million tonnes handled in 2007-08.

Even as much of this growth has come from handling of crude oil imports, mainly for Essar Oil's Vadinar refinery in Gujarat, the port is also taking measures to boost non-POL cargo. Last fiscal, POL traffic accounted for 63 per cent of the total cargo handled at Kandla Port, as against 59 per cent in 2007-08.

Although Kandla Port Trust officials declined to elaborate given the ongoing election code of conduct, it is reliably learnt that the port will soon initiate the process of selecting developers for four clean cargo berths that together aim to handle 8 million tonnes of cargo. The four berths will be supported by a 14m draft capable of handling 75,000 dwt vessels. The port has already received encouraging response from prospective bidders, for the project that is estimated to cost nearly Rs 500 crore.

KANDLA PORT TRUST
	Traffic handled
	mln tns	% chg*	%share**
2003-04	41.523	2.2	12.0
2004-05	41.551	0.1	10.8
2005-06	45.907	10.5	10.8
2006-07	52.982	15.4	11.4
2007-08	64.920	22.5	12.5
2008-09	72.225	11.3	13.6
*with respect to previous year
**in all India traffic at major ports

KPT is also moving towards building dedicated container handling capacity. At the moment, container trade is insignificant—138,000 teu in 2008-09, down from 165,000 teu in 2007-08.

There is currently one container terminal that is under private operatorship of ABG Heavy Industries Ltd. The port trust's plans include setting up a dedicated container terminal with two berths (No.11 and No.12 of the port) on BOT basis. The Rs 330-crore project is expected to annually handle 0.6 million teu of container traffic.

The clean cargo and container berths form only a small part of KPT's expansion plans through private enterprise. Other aspects include berthing facilities off Tekra (Tuna) that is expected to boost cargo by12 million tonnes, an offshore liquid terminal, bunkering facilities and a ship repair and building yard.

Kandla Port has shown buoyant growth in cargo handling in the recent past. In 2008-09, its total traffic grew by 13.6 per cent to reach an all-time high of 72.225 million tonnes. The port's share in traffic handled by all major ports has risen steadily over the years, peaking at 13.6 per cent last year (see table). Earlier projections made by the port indicate an annual capacity handling target of 100 million tpa by 2012.