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Phase-I of the new container terminal at Kamarajar Port, being developed by Adani Ports, is expected to commence shortly, said Mr M. A. Bhaskarachar, CMD of Kamarajar Port Ltd (KPL), during the Port’s annual press meet.
KPL had signed a Concession Agreement with Adani Ennore Container Terminal Pvt. Ltd in March 2014 for the development of a container terminal on DBFOT basis with handling capacity of 1.4 million TEUs with a total quay length of 730 m at a cost of Rs 1,270 crore in two phases. Phase-I will have a quay length of 400 m. Construction work is completed.
The Port, which was initially looked upon as a mono commodity coal port to serve the interest of Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, has over the period developed as a multi-cargo port. Today, it has created facilities for handling liquid bulk, automobiles and general cargo with a handling capacity of 32 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). In recent times, in order to meet the growing traffic demands, Kamarajar Port initiated action and awarded the contract for creating additional terminal facilities, viz., construction of two more coal berths for TANGEDCO, container terminal, multi-cargo terminal, modification of existing iron ore terminal to also handle coal and LNG terminal for handling additional cargo of 54 mtpa. Once the ongoing projects are completed, handling of containers, heavy project cargo and LNG would commence. The Port is poised for a greater growth in the years to come with handling capacity of 86 mtpa.
Traffic handled at KPL during 2016-17:
The cargo throughput handled by KPL during the financial year 2016-17 was 30.02 million tonnes as against 32.21 million tonnes handled in the corresponding period of the previous year, which is -6.80 per cent in comparison with the previous year. The shortfall in throughput is mainly due to the reduction in coal handled by TANGEDCO and by BOT operator which declined by (-)9.80 per cent in comparison to the previous year. The coal demand was reduced by the captive user (TANGEDCO) due to increase in wind and solar energy and also the reduction in handling of imported coal.
However, the liquid cargo and automobiles, including project cargo handled has seen a positive growth of 4.51 per cent and 5.36 per cent, respectively. The cargo handled details in comparison with the previous year is given below:
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