Amid rising competition and the need to upgrade, Kamarajar Port Limited (KPL) will soon implement an extensive project, which will allow it to handle the massive cape-size vessels.
From next month, the Capital Dredging Phase VI Project will begin. This will increase the draft of the port from 16 m to 18 m. Capesize vessels, which are huge dry cargo ships, require a deep draft of 18 m and have a capacity of nearly 1.7 lakh tonnes.
Officials of KPL said the bids were floated last year, and the contract had already been awarded, with the process to get clearance for the staff under way. “At present, we can only handle baby capevessels that can carry about 1.2 lakh tonnes of cargo. Though we primarily handle coal, the port has evolved over time, and we handle other commodities as well. At this point in time, upgradation of the port with deep draft is critical as it will position us better if we can handle capesize vessels in the future,” an official said.
The dredging work is likely to commence next month. The contractor will bring in two dredging units. The work will take about a year and half to be completed, the official said. This aside, there will be capital dredging of the harbour basin, work to lengthen the approach channel, and deepening the outer and inner approach channels.
Declared as the 12th major port in the country nearly 25 years back, Kamarajar Port is equipped with a handling capacity of 57.5 million tonnes now. But by 2047, KPL is looking to expand this to 254.5 million tonnes with various initiatives. At present, the port has nine berths that are operational. Of the nine, there are three dedicated berths to handle bulk coal, two each to handle automobile export, import, and liquid cargo, and one each for multi-cargo and containers. Officials said that by 2047, the number of berths too would be increased to 27.
Published – March 21, 2025 10:18 pm IST