50 ships, mostly Haldia-bound, waiting at Sandheads to find berth

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

2 Sep 2010

The bunching of vessels at the Sandheads, the mouth of Hooghly, is causing concern to the authorities as well as users of Kolkata port, particularly Haldia dock. On Wednesday, as many as 50 ships, mostly Haldia-bound, were waiting at the Sandheads. In normal situation, the number of waiting vessels will not be more than 10 to 12.
The port sources would attribute it to several factors such as the seasonal rain, which normally delays the loading and unloading operations during this time of the year with the result the berths remain occupied for longer period keeping other vessels waiting; occupation of berths by fertiliser vessels with very poor discharge rate, as low as 1,000 tonnes a day; arrival of gearless coking coal vessels that can be handled in only one berth, 4A; arrival of a number of several bulkers at a time to load iron ore, shortage of tugs and other factors.
Haldia dock has nine tugs and more than half of them are unfit for operation. On an average, four tugs are operating a day. Since towing of tankers requires two tugs, for handling other vessels, only two tugs are available, which is insufficient.
It so happened a few days ago that a tanker could not berthed because two tugs were not available. The vessel had to go back to the Sandheads and is now waiting for its next turn to call at the Haldia oil jetty. The port authorities, therefore, are trying to hire tugs.
Right now, a dozen iron ore ships (i.e., ships due to load iron ore at Haldia) are waiting at the Sandheads, with another four in the berths. Apart from rain, the delay in loading is also caused by delayed arrival of iron ore at the port, say port sources.
The work-to-rule by the river pilots too has been a matter of concern. The pilots, responsible for ship movement between the Sandheads and the dock, are, it is learnt, opposed to the decision of the port authorities to recruit 25 new pilots – 15 for Kolkata Dock System and another 10 for Haldia.

Source: The Hindubusiness Line