New RoRo Facility At Indian Oil Port Begins Construction

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

29 Nov 2009

A meeting with Shipping Minister G.K. Vasan yesterday confirmed that the Paradip Port Trust was on target to meet its commitments with regard to development and that by March 2010 the port would be capable of a throughput of 100 million tonnes, rising to 134 million tonnes when all works are completed. Bulk cargoes will include coal and iron ore as well as oil.
The meeting followed a ceremony in which the Minister laid the foundation stone for construction of the proposed oil terminal and celebrated the inauguration of a 250 metre jetty to accommodate both Indian Oil Company and Coastguard vessels. The jetty can be used as two independent berths and has RoRo capability. The need for speedy turnaround of Coastguard craft was considered a priority due to the current security situation and problems like that of the stricken bulk carrier Black Rose which was fully reported here. The Minister thanked the port authorities for their timely assistance in rescuing the crew of that ship and the clean up which followed.
Deepening of the channel at Paradip means that, with a depth of over 17 metres vessels up to 125,000 DWT can be accommodated. The port has already commissioned a single mooring point to enable discharge of crude oil through the pipeline to the refinery at Haldia. There are further plans to develop more downstream facilities in the region and the Government has been keen to promote these with tax concessions for these and further infrastructure development.
Work on Indian dock facilities continues apace with projects planned or underway at a host of sites around the subcontinent which include Kandia (mooring point), Tuticorin and Indira (bulk handling terminals), Dahej and Gogha (RoRo terminals), Kolkata(river and sea barge transfer terminal facilities)plus numerous other proposals. As we have pointed out previously there are still opportunities to be had in the region for serious investors.

Source: Handy Shipping Guide