[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Kandla Port has once again excelled in performance in 2016-17. It emerged as the No. 1 Port for the 10th year in a row and crossed the 100-million tonne (mt) mark for the second consecutive year by handling 105.44 million tonnes of cargo during the period under review.
The major achievements of the Port in 2016-17 are as follows:
a) Traffic :
1) Highest ever cargo handling
The Kandla Port Trust created a new record by handling 105.44 mt of cargo during the FY 2016-17, showing a growth of 5.39 per cent. KPT is the only Major Port to handle more than 100 mt cargo throughput and is now the number 1 Major Port of the country (in terms of cargo handling) for the 10th consecutive year.
On October 27, 2016, the Port handled a record quantity of 5,83,186 mt of total traffic, surpassing the previous best of 5,52,907 mt handled on March 31, 2010. A single day record quantity of 1,89,598 mt of dry cargo was handled at Kandla Port on March 31, 2017, surpassing the previous best of 1,75,506 mt handled on May 10, 2015. A record quantity of 15,947 mt of chemicals was despatched by ex-MT MERCURY at Kandla on March 31, 2017, surpassing the previous record of 13,000 mt handled on May 23, 1996 ex-MT STOLT WESTLAND.
b) Finance :
c) Projects (civil, mechanical and marine): –
(i) Award of work for construction of Cargo Jetty Nos. 14 & 16:-
For handling dry cargo, the Kandla Port Trust is undertaking to construct two jetties—namely, Cargo Jetty No.14 and Cargo Jetty No.16. To be constructed at a cost of about Rs 530 crore, these two jetties will add capacity of 4.5 mt per berth, i.e., a total of 9 mt. The orders for both the works have been awarded on March 18, 2017 and construction work will start shortly.
(ii) Construction of ROB-cum-Interchange: –
The Kandla Port is undertaking to build a Rail Over Bridge / Interchange at Kutch Salt Junction. It is being built at LC236 to provide seamless flow of traffic over junction of three railway lines and five roads. The order for construction of ROB has been awarded on March 18, 2017 and the construction work shall commence soon.
(iii) Mechanisation of fertiliser bagging and wagon loading: –
The Kandla Port Trust has successfully awarded the work of mechanised bagging and wagon loading of fertilisers. The project has been designed to handle 1.4 mtpa of fertiliser cargo.
(iv) Declaration of station code for Railway siding inside the Port, enabling running of train on through distant basis: –
In culmination of KPT’s long efforts, Western Railway on March 24, 2017 notified Kandla Port Dock Rail Terminal at Kandla Port for handling all types of cargo. With this, the freight will now be charged on through distance basis up to the farthest point inside the Port. With the opening of Kandla Port Dock Rail Terminal, the exim trade will be benefitted to a great extent, as the cost of handling will be reduced considerably on account of non-levy of wagon placement charges by Railways, which works out to between Rs 32 and Rs 46 per mt, depending upon the cargo.
This is one more step towards lowering of transaction cost for the exim trade and facilitating “Ease of Doing Business” to the trade.
(v) Successful auction of land for salt production:
The Kandla Port has carried out successful auction of salt lands in a transparent manner. The long pending e-tender-cum-e-auction for allotment of more than 10,000 acres of salt land in Kandla Port area has been successfully completed. During the e-auction, a total of 10 plots were e-auctioned at a reserve price of Rs 20,344.92 per acre per annum. However, due to fierce competition, the KPT would now get revenue of Rs 260.02 crore in the next 10 years. Similarly, the revenue from the remaining seven plots for the next 30 years will be more than Rs 368 crore (approx.).
(vi) Successful auction of land for Tank Farms: –
The KPT has been successful in allotting total 16 plots through e-auction process for the purpose of liquid storage tanks on 30 years’ lease period. The total storage capacity of these tanks to be installed is 14.50 lakh kl (approx.). The KPT will earn a revenue of Rs 1,512.51 crore (approx.) towards lease rental charges in the next 30 years from these 16 plots. The successful e-auction of salt land and tank farms at Kandla will not only provide direct and indirect employment to about 9,000 local people, but it will also give additional cargo and revenue to KPT.
(vii) Wind energy project for 6 MW: –
In keeping with the government’s drive to promote green energy, the Kandla Port has taken steps for production of wind- based power. The project for 6 MW wind power has already been completed. The project of setting up of a 6 MW wind power facility was awarded to Inox Wind Ltd on April 15, 2016. The turbines have been set up in village: Sukhpur, Dist: Amreli, Gujarat. Regulatory approval from GEDA has been obtained. Transmission and wheeling agreement with GETCO has also been signed. The production will start very shortly. It’s a green energy project and will provide clean and renewable energy. The generation capacity of the wind farm will be around 1.32 crore units per year. After commissioning of 6 MW of wind power project, the KPT is likely to save around Rs 7.50 crore per annum in the energy consumption bill.
(viii) Successful commissioning and start of commercial operations of Container Terminal at Kandla Port: –
Due to persistent efforts, the Port has been able to successfully implement and restart container operations on PPP basis. Concession Agreement was signed with Kandla International Container Terminal on February 29, 2016 and the date of award of concession was September 12, 2016. Commercial operation of Phase 1 of the project commenced on January 28, 2017. Phase-II is scheduled to operationalised by September 2017. On completion, the terminal will have the capacity to handle 6 lakh TEUs annually. This project has revived container handling operations at Kandla Port.
(ix) Increase in productivity of cargo handling at Kandla through policy interventions: –
In keeping with the government’s policy of achieving excellence in port operations, an exercise was carried out to benchmark the port operations with best practices in leading ports. The Kandla Port took various measures in consultation with the Port users, so as to reduce the unproductive time like pre-commencement delays, loss in shift changes and also upward revision of productivity, keeping in view the infrastructure and capacity available. This resulted in improvement in operational efficiency such as productivity, which, in turn, increased the cargo throughput and reduction in pre-berthing delay and faster turnaround time of the vessels calling at Kandla. The average per hour output for edible and chemical tankers increased to 363 mt from 247 mt per hour, i.e., improved by 47 per cent. Similarly, the productivity of dry cargo increased to 10,126 mt per day during current financial year from 8,051 mt during 2014-15, thereby, achieving an increase of 26 per cent. The average pre-berthing detention and turnaround time was reduced by 26 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively, during the current year as compared to 2014-15.
(x) Improvement in navigational facilities: –
The Kandla Port Trust had conducted an audit of navigational channel with a view to optimally utilise the available depth in the channel. As a result, for vessels (other than container vessels) maximum LOA of 260 mtrs at a draught of 12 mtrs are now permitted in place of 255 mtrs earlier. For containerships, LOA of 270 mtrs at a draught of 12.5 mtrs is being permitted. Further, for night navigation, maximum permissible LOA is increased from 225 mtrs to 230 mtrs and draught has been increased from 11.5 mtrs to 11.75 mtrs Under the project “Unnati”, Pilot Personal Unit (PPU) has been procured and put to use for safe navigation in Kandla.
(xi) Start of RoRo services: –
The Kandla Port Trust has started a new category of cargo during the FY 2016-17 by handling vehicles through RoRo services. The service has commenced from September 2016 and the voyages are from Chennai to Kandla via Cochin and back. Total 7 voyages have been completed till the end of the current year. More than 11,000 cars and trucks have been discharged at Kandla and 2,390 vehicles have been loaded. The major users for inbound movement are Ford-Chennai, Toyota, Hyundai and for outbound movement, Ford-Sanand, TCI-Sanand, Tata, Honda are using the facility. This is a major step in the direction of coastal movement of cargo.
(xii) Development of Smart Industrial Port City (SIPC): –
The Kandla Port Trust is developing greenfield Smart Industrial Port City at two locations. At the first location, spread over 585 acres, residential, commercial and institutional development will be carried out. At the second location, spread over 850 acres, industrial development will be carried out. For both the locations, applications for obtaining environment clearance have been made and studies for environment impact assessment are underway. Detailed engineering designs for various infrastructure works are also being carried out and the work on ground is likely to start in June 2017. The total expenditure on these two projects is likely to be more than Rs 1,000 crore and will greatly enhance industrial and commercial activities in Kutch region and will also bring additional cargo to the Port.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
