Jumbo vessel docks at Paradip

04 December 2017

A capesize merchant ship berthed at Paradip port on Sunday. This is only the second time a ship of this category has berthed here.

“The berthing of two capesize vessels in 18 days is a major achievement on our part,” said Paradip Port Trust chairman Rinkesh Roy.

Paradip Port is now gearing up to handle capesize vessels regularly inside the harbour to enhance the cargo throughout the year for it is now vying for the top position in the country with a slew of other infrastructure development and modernisation facilities, Roy said.

The Merchant Vessel Mineral Honshu carrying 1,17,983 million metric tonne of steam coal has been berthed at the central quay-1. The vessel has loaded the cargo for its importer NTPC at Richards Bay Port of South Africa for its unloading at Paradip Port.

Paradip Port is now on infrastructure expansion mode. Under port-led development, a wood park will be coming up. For this, wood from countries such as Malaysia will be processed locally.

Eleven lakh square metres of warehousing space is being developed at the Multi Modal Logistics Park for this purpose.

With Rs 3,500 crore in investments, rapid port expansion is taking place under which a clean cargo berth will be coming up by January end. Similarly, the development of deep draught coal berth and iron ore berth and mechanisation of berths are now in progress.

The Paradip Port has been occupying the second position among the major ports in India for the past three years. This year, it aims to handle 100 million metric tonnes of cargo, a port official said.

Source: Telegraph