Gangavaram port all set for take off

The country's deepest port at Gangavaram near Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh is all set to take off. The port is awaiting its date with Congress president Sonia Gandhi for formal inauguration.

The Gangavaram port project was awarded to a private consortium led by D V S Raju with Dubai Ports International as a partner by the Andhra Pradesh government in 2005.

Speaking to Business Standard, a senior official of Gangavaram Port Ltd said the port is all set to start Phase-I operations sometime in May or June 2008, depends on the Congress president's availability.

He added that the port will initially Be launched with five berths and will be upgraded to 29 berths by 2011. Of the five berths, one berth will be reserved for coal traffic, one for iron ore and three for multi-purpose cargoes, including dry and general cargoes. Investment on the first phase of the project will be Rs 1,800 crore. A consortium of 11 banks led by SBI Capital Markets will fund the project, he added.

The official said that Gangavaram port would be the country's deepest port with a 20-metre draft which can handle vessels with capacities of upto 300,000 DWT (dead weight tonnage) while other ports in the country have only 12-16 metre drafts, allowing vessels upto 200,000 DWT.

In other major ports of the country, vessels carrying bulk cargoes have to unload them on the outer harbour due to draft restrictions, whereas, vessels at Gangavaram port would be able to directly approach the berth to discharge cargo, he added.

The port has set a target to handle 35-40 million tonnes of cargo in the first year of operations. Of the total traffic, coal and iron ore are likely to contribute more than 60 per cent of cargo traffic.

The port will initially handle cargoes bound for NTPC's Vizag coalfired plant and SAIL's Vizag steel plant, before competing with the Vizag, Paradip and Chennai ports for coal and iron ore traffic.

Earlier this month, Gangavaram Port procured two mobile harbour cranes from Gottwald Port Technology (Gottwald) of Germany. These cranes will be used for handling coal imports and exports, iron ore, coal, limestone and other bulk materials as well as general cargo.

The port currently has a depth of 21 metres, and if required, could reach depths of upto 35 metres to allow movement of large vessels. The port will be supported by a 2.2-km rail link to Vizag.

The port is also looking at integrating its operations with petrochemical activities in its hinterland, which is being developed by the state government in league with HPCL and others like the Vizag Steel Plant.

Currently witnessing huge investments from the oil and petrochemical sectors, the hinterland boasts of significant gas reserves from the Krishna-Godavari basin as well.