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Kakinada Deep Water Port will invest Rs 650 crore over the next two years for deepening the entrance channel to 16 metre from the present 14 metre, according to its chairman KV Rao.
"The dredging project will be complete by December 2014 after which the port can allow up to 150,000 DWT (deadweight tonnage) vessels as against current capacity of only 70,000 DWT vessels," he told Business Standard.
This will also enable the port to increase its cargo handling capacity. On the other hand, freight charges would come down for customers, who hire larger vessels, he added.
Rao also said consortiums of Shell and GAIL were setting up two LNG terminals in the port premises with an investment of about Rs 7,000 crore. Each project will have an initial capacity of 5 million tonnes. The port expects more revenues on the back of these projects as with the availability of LNG, the region would witness a lot of industrial growth, according to him.
Mechanised handling facility
The mechanised handling facility for coal would be ready in two months. The fertiliser berth would also be mechanised in the next one year. With this, the port expects its coal and fertiliser handling capacity to double.
Besides, it would set up a container berth. "We are preparing the feasibility report on this and are planning to convert two existing berths into container terminal, which can handle larger container vessels," he said.
Cargo handling up 24%
However, despite a decline of 1.6 million tonnes in iron ore, fertiliser and fertiliser raw materials, Kakinada port registered about 24 per cent growth in cargo handling in 2012-13, compared with the preceding year. It handled 12.09 million tonne cargo in FY13 as against 9.70 million tonne in the previous year. "This year we have lost 1.6 million tonne cargo in iron ore and fertiliser, but gained about 2 million in coal handling and 1.25 million tonnes in granite. This apart, for the first time wheat and alumina came to the port boosting cargo handling," he said.
