Hudhud: Vizag port may miss handling target

Visakhapatnam port, one of the major ports in the country, is likely to miss its cargo handling target during the current financial year in view of the devastation caused by Cyclone Hudhud.

The port had set a target to handle 63 million tonnes of cargo this fiscal. In the first half, it achieved a growth of 6-7 per cent compared with the corresponding period year. However, now because of the cyclone, it looks difficult to reach 60 million tonnes by March, said MT Krishna Babu, chairman, Visakhapatnam Port.

Heavy cyclone had damaged the oil berth at the outer harbour and it would take about six months to restore this thereby impacting crude oil imports, he stated. The port needs to invest more than Rs 110 crore in repairing the berth. "Though for HPCL Refinery we have an alternative mooring berth facility, here we can handle only very large crude carriers, which have a carrying capacity of 250,000 tonnes. The port would be able to handle smaller vessels only after six months," he said.

The port also had to declare seven days as non working days and later its handling started at minimum levels. As a result, it lost nearly 2 million tonnes of cargo.

"At present, our berths are intact on surface, but we don't know about the under water damages, if any. Hence, we are planning to conduct underwater inspections very shortly," he said. The port's southern breakwaters surface was damaged, and the estimated loss could be around Rs 100 crore. Its 1.5 million sft covered godown shed too had been badly damaged and requires about Rs 50 crore for repairs, according to him.

Vizag SEZ loss at Rs 215 cr

Industrial units in the Visakhapatnam Special Economic Zone (VSEZ) have incurred a loss of Rs 215 crore due to Hudhud cyclone, said its joint development commissioner G Trinadh Kumar. VSEZ, located at Duvvada near here, has about 63 units

These units exported products Rs 2,155 crore during the last financial year and in the first half of the current fiscal exports touched Rs 1,300 crore, he said. Major ones like Dr Reddy's Labs, Gland Pharam and Synergies had incurred huge losses.

Due to non-restoration of power, units in the SEZ are losing nearly Rs 7 crore worth of production per day, he added.

Apart from this, industrial units in the AP Special Economic Zone at Atchuthapuram have also suffered huge damages. According to initial estimates, Rs 110-120 crore worth of property had been damaged here. The SEZ has around 18 major industrial units and the power supply has not been restored so far.