Visakhapatnam Port News

A Liberian-flagged oil tanker set sail in May from Russia's Ust-Luga port carrying crude on behalf of a little-known trading company based in Hong Kong. Before the ship had even reached its destination in India, the cargo changed hands.The new owner of the 100,000 tonnes of Urals crude carried on the Leopard I was a similarly low-profile outfit, Guron Trading, also based in Hong Kong, according to two trading sources.The number of little-known trading firms relied on by Moscow to export large volumes of crude exports to Asia has mushroomed in recent months…

Essar Ports, India's second-largest, private-sector port and terminal company by capacity and throughput, posted a record 20 per cent cargo growth in April-September period of the ongoing financial year (ending March 31, 2020) with a throughput of 27.29 MT.The Essar Group company, h operates four terminals on the east and west coasts of India, said in a press note that the growth has been driven by a 183.21% increase in third-party cargo compared to that in the corresponding period in the previous financial year. Cargo from captive customers grew by 6%.Rajiv Agarwal, MD & CEO, Essar Ports Ltd, said: “Significant boost in third-party business has been the key driver for our growth in overall volumes.

India's three major ports, including Paradip in Odisha, may acquire a stake in Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) based on availability of surplus funds lying with them."In a meeting chaired by Secretary (Shipping) with Chairmen/Chairmen I/C of Major Ports, held on 18th June 2018, the disinvestment proposal of Dredging Corporation of India Ltd (DCI) was discussed," Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh L Mandaviya informed the Parliament."It was suggested that Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT), Paradip Port Trust (PPT) and New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT), based on the availability of surplus fund lying with them may strive to acquire shares of DCI given the linkage of dredging activity with the Ports…

The Indian Ministry of Shipping, as a part of its ‘Green Port Initiative’ has been emphasizing on use of renewable sources of energy to power Major Ports across the nation. The Ministry aims to set up 91.50 MW of solar energy capacity at the twelve Major Ports and 45 MW of wind energy capacity by the two Major Ports of Kandla and V. O. Chidambaranar. Major Ports have started the process of setting-up renewable energy projects by investing Rs.704.52 crores ($ 104 million) in these projects. When completed, these renewable energy projects will help in the reduction of carbon dioxide emission by 136,500 MT annually. These projects will also help to reduce cost of power purchased by utilization of renewable energy for power generation…

While increasing the capacity of major ports, Ministry of Shipping has been striving to improve the operational efficiencies through mechanization and other measures. As a result key efficiency parameters have improved considerably. The Average Turnaround Time has registered a significant improvement in 2015-16 and was 3.63 days as against 4.00 days in the corresponding preceding year. This has further improved to 3.49 days in the current year (up to October, 2016). The Average Output Per Ship Berthday has increased from 12458 Tonnes in 2014-15 to 13151 Tonnes in 2015-16. This has further increased to 13949 Tonnes during the current year (up to October, 2016).

Vedanta Limited, India’s only diversified natural resources company today received the ‘Letter of Award’ for Redevelopment of Berth No.8, 9 and Barge Berths at Port of Mormugao, Goa (‘Project’) on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) Basis. It was handed over to Vedanta’s Iron Ore business CEO, Mr. Kishore Kumar by I.Jeyakumar, Chairman – Mormugao Port Trust in the presence of Road, Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Mr. Nitin Gadkari at the Maritime India Summit (MIS), 2016 being held at Mumbai. Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Mr. Kishore Kumar stated, “We are excited about the project and the opportunity to partner with the Government of India.

India’s Visakhapatnam Port has selected Transas as its VTMS provider. According to the project schedule, the new system will be fully operational by the end of 2015. The Visakhapatnam Port is located on the east coast of India between Chennai and Kolkata and has three main harbors. Being one of the most important hubs in South Asia, the Visakhapatnam Port is currently undergoing modernization and expansion. The VTMIS from Transas will be integrated with the Port Operation System (POS) and existing sensors including X-band Radar, six CCTV cameras and an AIS Base station.

As part of growing strategic relationship to counter China's increased activity in the Indian Ocean,  India and Australia will focus on anti-submarine warfare in their first ever joint naval exercises,  reports SMH. The Indian Navy and Royal Australian Navy are gearing up for the first-ever joint maritime exercise, AUSINDEX. The war games starting Sept. 11 off India's Visakhapatnam port in the Bay of Bengal will include exercises to protect a tanker from a hostile attack submarine. The joint maritime exercise between the two natio-ns assumes significance in the backdrop of China trying to gain access to the Bay of Bengal, by cultivating naval cooperation with Ba-ngladesh…

Sri Lanka based shipping company- Herbilan Shipping Pvt Ltd is all set to launch Colombo-Vizag-Yangon (Myanmar)-Colombo service from September 1, reports the Hindu. “One of the main reasons for Herbilan Shipping to launch the service is to give direct connectivity with Yangon and Colombo as the first dedicated feeder in this route. At present there is no dedicated feeder in operation on this route,” said Herbi Silva. Herbilan Shipping is also planning to commence the second loop effective from October end on Colombo-Chennai-Yangon-Colombo and the thi-rd loop end of November, on Colombo-Yangon-Colombo-Navashiva-Colombo sector. Herbilan group chairman, Herbi Silva, director Jin Jinx-ian and CEO Ivan De Almeida are in Vizag to meet Vizag port officials, shipping agents and customers.

India will develop Visakhapatnam, the largest city in the state of Andhra Pradesh, into a regional container transshipment hub. According to Visakhapatnam Port Trust Chairman M.T. Krishna Babu as part of transshipment hub plan, feeder services to Haldia, Kolkata, Chittagong in Bangladesh and ports in Myanmar would be developed. Because of its strategic location, the city was better placed than other ports to attract cargo even from distant places, he said. Efforts were on to attract mainland vessels to Visakhapatnam Port. Visakhapatnam will be a second transshipment port in the country, even as operations at the first, at Vallarpadam near Kochi, are yet to pick up pace.

Visakhapatnam Port has completed first phase of dredging in the Inner Harbor to handle vessels with deadweight tonnage of 60,000 without lightening. The Port has achieved a 12.5 m draft and 14 m depth in the inner harbor, facilitating the handling of Panamax vessels, says Port Chairman M.T. Krishna Babu. The dredging was completed in difficult conditions to deepen the channel as it involved rock dredging, first of its kind in the world. The dredging, which involved blasting of rocks between two hills to increase the depth of the entrance channel, would be completed by March 31 with a total investment of $50 million. Krishna said the second phase of deepening of the entrance channel would be done by April.

Two ports on the Eastern Coast of India that suffered extensive damage from the Hudhud cyclone have provided a status update. Yesterday night port declared the impact of cyclone HudHud as  ‘force majeure’. As a very preliminary assessment of the port, “Hudhud” has caused extensive damage to Port infrastructure, including conveyor system, storage sheds, and other storage areas. The extent of damage will only be assessed and estimated in due course. Further, at this preliminary stage, it is apprehended that it may take around four weeks or more for Port operations to begin in a phased manner, though port indicating they will endeavor with best efforts to resume Port operations as early as possible.

Essar Ports Ltd. (Essar Ports), part of Essar and one of the largest port companies of India, today announced its audited results for the financial year 2013-13 and for quarter ended March 2014. * Net Profit for the year increased by 16% to Rs. 383.7 crore from Rs. 331.6 crore for the previous year. For Q4 FY14, the Net Profit  reduced by 1% to Rs. 90.8 crore from Rs. 92.1 crore in Q4 FY13. *  Earnings Per Share for the year was Rs 8.97 as against Rs 7.80 for previous year. Earnings Per Share for Q4 FY14 was Rs. 2.12 as against Rs. 2.15 for Q4 FY13. *  Essar Ports board recommends a dividend of 5 % (Rs. by 13% to Rs. 1637.4 crore from Rs. 1448.6 crore for the previous year. For Q4 FY14, the Revenues increased by 5% to Rs 415.5 crore from Rs 396.7 crore in Q4 FY13.

Indian Ports Cargo traffic at 12 major ports in the country recorded a marginal increase of 1.78 per cent at 555.50 million tonnes (MT) during 2013-14.The cargo throughput at 12 major ports of India stood at 545.79 MT in 2012-13. Kandla port handled the highest 87 MT traffic during 2013-14, followed by 68 MT cargo by Paradip Port and 62 MT by Jawaharlal Nehru port, as per the data by Indian Ports Association (IPA). Mumbai port recorded 59 MT traffic while Visakhapatnam Port received 58 MT cargo. Chennai Port received 51 MT traffic. These ports had handled 560.13 MT of cargo in 2011-12 while the same was 596.03 MT in 2010-11. The present capacity of major ports is only about 700 MT , while the Maritime Agenda of the Ministry has fixed a target of 3130 MT capacity addition by 2020.

The Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT), which is continuing its supremacy over other ports in cargo handling, is attracting a large number of Panamax vessels after the first phase of deepening in Outer Harbour. The VPT, which was handling vessels with 195 metres LOA (length over all) and 10.21 m draft till recently, has attained the capability to handle Panamax vessels of 230 m LOA, 32.5 m beam and 0.7 m. draft with progress in completion of Inner Harbour deepening. The port is catering to Panamax vessels with 11 m draft. It will have night navigation for Suez max tankers calling at Outer Harbour shortly, once it is widened further. The VPT has undertaken work on augmenting its capacity by deepening the channels in the second half of 2005-06.