Haldia draft problems worry shipping units

In the face of rising operating costs on account of falling draft in the Haldia channel, the shipping companies operating at the port might consider diverting cargo to Vizag port in the near future.

The operating costs have increased by 30 per cent in the last two years, alleged the Association of Shipping Interests in Calcutta (ASIC).

"A bulk carrier requires a draft of one centimetre for 50 ton of cargo it carries and with the average river draft falling over the last few years, ships are now not able to carry cargo at full capacity. A 50,000 ton ship is now carrying around 18,000-20,000 tons of cargo to enter the channel. The port authority, however, charges a ship according to its full tonnage", complained S B Mazumder, vice-president of ASIC.

As a result, the frequncy of trips have increased to deliver the entire cargo while turn-around time for vessels had more than doubled from six days earlier to over 13 days now, he added.

Another fall-out of the situaion was that number of feeder and container vessels had increased significantly, adding to congestion at lock gates.

As against this, Vizag as a sea-port had deeper draft and a turn-around time of 24 hours, claimed members of ASIC.

Many shipping companies could now divert traffic to Vizag, from where cargo would reach Bengal via rail or road.

The higher cost would not be absorbed by shipping companies but would be passed on to trade and, in turn, to consumers, ASIC warned.

The draft in Haldia was only 7.35m in July this year as compared to the average river draft of 8.5m in July for the last four years.

The draft situation became critical in the last three months as Dredging Corporation of India (DCI), a central government outfit, employed only two to three dredgers during this period.

Out of three, one worked at 50 per cent capacity, thereby bringing down the number of dredgers effectively working on the channel to 2.5 from a stipulated five dredgers, H P Nopany, president of ASIC, alleged.

Around mid-August the draft at the Jellingham and Auckland bars was as low as 4.1m and 3.9m respectively.

The port trust has taken short-term measure by reducing the navigable channel from five tracks (1500 feet) to four tracks (1200 feet) among others measures to ensure that the draft increased by 0.4m.

However, long term measures like capital dredging at the Balari bar together with continued maintenance dredging was required to ensure draft of above 8m in the channel, Nopany said.

According to ASIC, the Kolkata Port Trust should urge the shipping ministry to allow foreign dredgers to work on the channel if DCI could not deploy adequate dredgers at Haldia.

Ham Dredging of Holland had worked in the channel in the late 1990’s.