Cargo-handling capacity of Vizag port up, says its chairman

Cargo-handling capacity of Visakhapatnam Port Trust has doubled during the last five years, from 67 million tonnes in April 2014 to 127 million tonnes in April 2019, chairman of the port M T Krishna Babu said Thursday.

Addressing a media conference here, Babu said the capacity would be further augmented to 145 million tonnes in the coming two years with the completion of projects.

The port handled65.30 million tonnes during the financial year 2018-19 against 63.54 million tonnes during 2017-18, he said.

As part of mechanisation, modernisation and deepening, 15 capacity addition projects were taken up with an investment of Rs 3,171 crore, of which 11 projects were completed and four were under progress, Babu said.

The draft of the inner harbour has been increased from 11 metre to 14.5 metres enabling the port to handle bigger Panamax vessels carrying one lakh tonnes of cargo, he said.

Accordingly, the berths in the inner harbour were also upgraded and strengthened to handle bigger vessels, he said.