Gopalpur port may resume operations from July 2015

The port had expected to restart operations by January 2015 earlier

Battered by two back to back cyclonic storms, the Gopalpur port’s road to revival has been delayed further.

The port that expected to restart operations by January 2015, is now looking at a revised timeline of July 2015 after very severe cyclonic storm Hudhud damaged the port’s breakwater in October. Hudhud had made landfall near Visakhapatnam on October 12 and subsequently advanced towards Odisha coast.

“The port’s breakwater has been badly damaged by the cyclonic storm. To reconstruct it, we need large stones that are not available easily. During our talks with the chief secretary, it was decided that the state government will form a technical committee within a month to sort out the problem,” said Mahimananda Mishra, managing director of Gopalpur Ports Ltd (GPL), a 50:50 joint venture between Odisha Stevedores Limited (OSL) and New Delhi based Sara International Ltd.

The port’s operations came to a standstill after cyclone Phailin hit the state’s southern coast on October 12 last year. Exactly a year later, the port was hit again by Hudhud. The port had incurred around Rs 250 crore loss due to Phailin.

The seasonal port was upgraded to an all-weather port in May last year. The last vessel had anchored at the port on October 7, 2013.

GPL proposed to enhance the port’s cargo handling capacity from 3.5 million tonne per annum (mtpa) to five mtpa and also enable the port to handle big vessels.

GPL has already spent Rs 850 crore on the project to make it an all-weather port. The port aims to receive large vessels with 1.25 dwt (dead weight tonnage) capacity by 2016.