Vizag port plans to add three more berths soon

Visakhapatnam Port is planning to add three more new berths at a cost of about Rs 135 crore very shortly.

"At present, this port has 22 berths (15 in the inner harbour and seven in the outer harbour). Three more new berths will be ready for operations by August. For constructing these berths, the port and private companies will spend around Rs 135 crore," Sripadha VSLN Sastry, chief engineer of Visakhapatnam Port, told Business Standard.

The port handled about 471.4 lakh tonne of cargo during the last fiscal. Once the new berths become operational, the port's handling capacity is expected to go up by 30-35 lakh tonnes per annum. The port expects to handle 500 lakh tonne of cargo by 2005-06.

On the investments on the new berths, Sastry said that the port would spend around Rs 35 crore on construction of WQ "� 6 berth on the western arm.

The port has allotted two berths to Gammon India Limited which is investing Rs 100 crore on the other two berths "� EQ-8 and E Q-9 "� on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. Of the two berths, one will be ready within a month, while another will be operational by August, he said.

During the last fiscal, the port achieved a productivity of 11,712 tonnes per berth per day, the highest among all the major ports in the country.