Gopalpur port resumes full scale ops

The port's operations had grounded to a halt after Phailin & Hud Hud struck the port in 2013 and 2014 respectively

After battered by two back to back tropical cyclones, Gopalpur port off Ganjam coast in south Odisha has resumed full scale operations.

The port's operations had grounded to a halt after Phailin and Hud Hud struck the port in 2013 and 2014 respectively. The port reopened in December last year for normal commercial transactions. Post its repair, the port has now an enhanced cargo handling capacity and can handle vessels up to 50,000 tonne compared to 15,000 tonne earlier.

Within three months of its re-commissioning, the port has handled more than 0.1 million tonne of cargo. Ilmenite, a rare earth mineral and industrial salt constitutes the bulk of the cargo volume.The port caters to industries like Indian Rare Earths Ltd (IREL), Jayashree Chemicals and Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd (Iffco).

The port authorities have already spent around Rs 600 crore on developing Gopalpur into an all-weather port. The port is promoted by a special purpose vehicle called Gopalpur Ports Ltd (GPL).

GPL was jointly promoted by Orissa Stevedores Limited (OSL), New Delhi-based SIL (Sara International Limited) and Hong Kong based Noble Group.The consortium won the bid to develop the Gopalpur port into an all-weather port at an investment of Rs 1,200 crore. Later, Noble Group pulled out of the consortium.