The Union shipping ministry has sought land from the West Bengal government for disposal of silt that is dug up by the dredgers.
A P V N Sharma, shipping secretary, met Bengal chief secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarty today, and said that a disposal ground for the waste was urgently required for more effective dredging.
Sharma also assured the state government that the draft situation at the Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) was under control. "There is no cause for worry. More intimate interaction is required between the port and the state government. The ministry will not put away the state government's worry, but the situation is not alarming," he said.
A K Chanda, chairman, Kolkata Port Trust(KoPT) said that two reports were sent every month from the port to the state government and he had had a meeting with the chief secretary on February 24. Currently, seven trailer suction dredgers are working on the channel apart from one cutter suction dredger at Oil Jetty-I, and one more Chinese chartered dredger is expected to join in April.
Chakrabarty had met Cabinet secretary K M Chandrashekhar, on Tuesday, to discuss ways to reduce the plight of ships waiting to be unloaded at the Haldia dock. Currently, 56 ships are waiting to enter the dock at Sandheads. The union shipping secretary, A P V N Sarma will be visiting the Haldia Dock Complex tommorow to take stock of the situation.
A K Bagchi, director, marine departments, KoPT said that lower productivity levels of the berths meant for handling iron ore and heavy cargo was because of backdated equipments. The port had failed to match up to the sudden upsurge in iron ore traffic, which resulted in congestion at the Sandheads and not the falling draft level. The draft situation at the Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) of the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) is at par with the last year's level, he claimed.
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The average draft in the month of February was 0.1 metre more than that of the corresponding period last year. The average draft in March will be maintained at last year's level at 7.2 metres.
Bagchi also informed that normally during the slack season, 10-12 ships were always in the queue, which increased to 25 and above during the peak season. Compared to the scenario, 56 ships were found waiting yesterday because of the sudden upsurge in iron ore movement.
“Since December, iron ore exports have suddenly picked up compared to the October-November period when iron ore exports dipped by 12 per cent across all the major ports. Out of the 56 vessels that are waiting at Sandheads, located almost 125 kilometres away from the Haldia main dock, 41 vessels are in ballast (empty) condition, of which 38 vessels are to load iron ore from the port. The berths at HDC for handling iron ore are occupied, these vessels will have to wait their turn for allocation of suitable berths,” said Bagchi.
Necessary action had already been initiated by KoPT to equip newly constructed berths with modern cargo handling equipments in PPP mode, he said.
“Berth number two and eight will be equipped with modern equipments to be imported from outside to improve the productivity levels of the berths. We expect that with the induction of new equipments and revamping the old equipments at the existing berths, we would be able to increase our average cargo handling per vessel per day from 6,000 tons to 20,000 tons shortly, improving our productivity level substantially,” informed Bagchi.