Essar Port to complete Rs 830cr expansion at Vizag terminal

: Ahead of the commissioning of a new 8,000-tonne per hour ship loader, the Essar Group run Vizag Port is shutting its operations for seven days. The commissioning of the ship loader is part of the port's Rs 830 -crore modernization and expansion project,the port said.
This expansion will upgrade and expand the harbour's iron ore handling capacity from 12.5 million tonne to 23 mt per annum.
During the shut from December 13 to December 19, other cargo handling equipment, including a new reclaimer and a mechanical conveyor system, will also be commissioned.
The new ship loader can handle 120,000 tonne per day cargo which will translate to shorter turnaround time and competitive freight costs for exporters on the East Coast.

CH Satyanand, the chief executive of the port said the shutdown is being undertaken without any disruption to exporters' shipments. The port is replacing a 41-year-old ship-loader with a new one.
Essar Vizag Terminals began the expansion project in May 2015 on a design-build-finance-operate-Transfer basis for 30 years. Since then, it has ramped up iron ore loading capacity from 25,000 tonne per day to 70,000.

****************
IIT-K team wins Accenture's first innovation challenge
A team from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur has won the top award from Accenture's innovation challenge for their solution to address sleep disorders. Winners in other categories are students from the Dronacharya Group of Institution, Noida, the Indian Institute of Space Science & Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, IIT-Roorkee, Shri Vishnu Engineering College for Women at Bhimavaram, and IIT- Madras, Accenture said in a statement.

The Accenture Innovation Challenge is a competition designed to inspire innovation among college students in the country.
**************** Star Bazaar launches its 6th store in SoBo
Multi-format retail chain Star Bazaar, a joint venture between Tata and Tesco Enterprise, has launched its sixth store in south Mumbai.
The store was inaugurated by Sanjiv Mehta, CEO and MD of Hindustan Unilever, Jamshed Daboo, MD at Trent Hypermarket and Noel Tata, chairman of Trent.