Gujarat Maritime Board To Set Up Dredging Company

The Gujarat Maritime Board will set up a separate company for carrying out dredging operations, which will challenge the monopoly status of public sector Dredging Corporation of India.

Sources said the board will pick up a 50 per cent stake in the proposed Gujarat Dredging Corporation, while the balance will be contributed by the ports themselves or a private sector partner.

Sources said the Gujarat government has taken this initiative in view of the 10 ports coming up in the region.

Initially, these ports would require capital dredging for creating sufficient draft for berthing large vessels. Draft is the distance between the bottom of the vessel and the sea floor. The minimum distance for safe navigation is 20 feet.

 

Even after the initial capital dredging, these ports would require periodical maintenance dredging for de-siltation. A total of 77 ports are expected to come up during the next five years.

They said that each 1975 cubic metre capacity dredger is expected to cost around Rs 400 crore. The cost of second-hand vessels could be lower, but the market for such vessels is limited, they added.

Sources say all port projects that have been thrown open to the private sector are expected to be constructed as deep water ports to accommodate large vessels.

For instance, in its pre-feasibility report, Rendell Palmer and Tritton of the United Kingdom have suggested for the Hazira port a draft of 18 metres (about 60 feet) to accommodate 150,000 dead weight tonne (dwt) vessels.

To maintain this kind of a draft in all the 10 ports in the state, where cargo movement (both liquid bulk and bulk and containers) was expected to show a quantum growth, dredging facilities would have to be created simultaneously.

Using foreign dredging companies is not always feasible in view of the steep charges levied, they said.

Private ports too are not too keen to rely solely on the Dredging Corporation of India in view of its limited dredging capacity.