Haldia Dock draft hitting cargo: Officers

Falling draft was forcing ships to off load cargo at other ports before entering the Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) of Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT), a group of port officers alleged here today.

R K Burman, secretary of the Haldia Dock Officers' Forum, alleged that in the face of falling draft at the Haldia channel, now at 6.9 metre (m) today, a Tata Steel vessel had to enter the port with only 39 per cent of its parcel size, off-loading the rest at Paradeep.

The cargo would now have to be transported via rail that at an additional freight cost of Rs300 per ton, he claimed.

The Tata vessel named Blue Diamond, carrying 49,000 tons of limestone from Thailand for the Jamshedpur steel plant, entered the port with only 19,000 tons of cargo.

KoPT sources indicated that the vessel had earlier discharged around 30,000 tons at Haldia.

"For transporting 11,000 tons of cargo, the company would have to bear an additional cost of Rs33 lakh. KoPT would also lose around Rs12 lakh on account of reduced cargo handling", alleged R K Burman of the Haldia Dock Officers' Forum. Under normal draft conditions, the ship could have discharged more than 50 per cent of its cargo at Haldia and the remaining at Paradeep port.

On account of the reduced navigable depth in the channel, it could carry only 39 per cent of cargo to Haldia today.

A Tata Steel spokesperson indicated that the company had been part-loading its cargo between Haldia and Paradeep on account of fluctuating draft in the channel for the last eight to ten years.

Sources at the Haldia Dock Complex told Business Standard that while the port trust did not lose revenue if the same amount of cargo reached the port in greater number of vessels, reduced cargo handling could impact revenues.

"Coking coal traffic for Tata Steel and Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has actually risen during the year", the source added. "The draft in the channel averaging around 7.5m during this month forced companies like Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to reduce parcel size", Burman alleged but these companies could not be reached for confirmation.