Paradip port aims to be numero uno major port in three years

Lines up Rs 20,000 cr investment to boost cargo capacity to 330 million tonne

Paradip port on the eastern coast, currently the number two major port in India after Kandla in terms of volume of cargo handled, aims to emerge as the largest major port of the country in next three years and has lined up Rs 20,000 crore worth of expansion plan to this effect.

Though Rs 20,000 crore will be spent on the port development projects over next 10 years to ramp up the overall cargo handling capacity to 330 million tonne, the immediate objective is to reach 180 million cargo throughput mark by 2018-19 for which work has already begun on several fronts.

"That will take us past Kandla", said Rinkesh Roy, chairman, Paradip Port Trust (PPT).

In 2015-16, Paradip handled 76 million tonne cargo against Kandla's 100 million tonne. In the current fiscal, the port aims to achieve 90 million tonne cargo traffic and towards this, it has recorded 18 per cent growth in the first six months of the fiscal, which is the highest among all major ports in terms of incremental value, with the September growth peaking at 25 per cent.

Among the projects which are in the pipeline is a new iron ore berth of 10 million tonne capacity being built by JSW Group on BOT (build, operate and transfer) basis at a cost of Rs 740 crore. It is expected to be completed by March, 2018.

Similarly, work is on to build a berth to handle imported coal at a cost of Rs 600 crore which is likely to be operational by March, 2017. The tendering process has been initiated to choose PPP operator for mechanisation of 3 existing berths of the port which will add 30 million tonne cargo capacity for handling of coal, which are mostly shipped to southern states. The cost of the project is estimated at Rs 1430 crore.

The port is also setting up a clean cargo berth of 5 million tonne capacity on BOT basis to handle container and break-bulk materials. The cost of the project is pegged at Rs 430 crore and it is slated to be completed around mid-2017.

All these projects will take the cargo capacity of the port from 127 million tonne at present to 180 million tonne in next 2 to 3 years, Roy said.

These apart, the port has initiated the process to develop an outer harbour comprising 12 to 13 berths with combined cargo handling potential of 150 million tonne, mainly for shipment of coal to southern and western parts of the country. The cost of this new harbour, being developed under Sagarmala scheme of the government of India, will cost about Rs 8,764 crore. The first phase of the project comprises setting up of three export berths and one import berth and will cost about Rs 4,200 crore.

Similarly, there is proposal to set up a smart industrial port city (SIPC) at a cost of Rs 2,250 crore for which detail project report (DPR) is under preparation.

The port is also setting up a 20 Mw solar power plant in two phases (2X10 Mw) and a new tender for the purpose will be floated soon, Roy said.

He said, through unlocking of capacities, better efficiency in loading, unloading and ship berthday, adoption of transparent process to fix tariff and allot berths and stacking plots, the port has been able to divert cargo from other ports to it which has contributed to achieving higher growth in traffic.