Kolkata Port Trust News

Ports on India's eastern coast on Sunday restricted shipping activities and asked vessels to vacate anchorages ahead of a cyclonic storm expected to make landfall on Wednesday, port authorities and trade sources said.The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned that a "very severe cyclonic storm" would impact Indian states including Odisha and West Bengal, where key ports are located.Some regions are likely to receive heavy rainfall and wind speeds could reach 110 miles per hour…

Indian Ports Association (IPA) has appointed Tech Mahindra as the Managed Service Provider for five major ports. This is the first such outsourcing deal in the major ports.Tech Mahindra will build and maintain an enterprise business system (EBS) to modernise and automate port processes at five Central government-owned port  at Mumbai ,Kolkata, Chennai, Deendayal Port  and Paradip Port Trust.This initiative is a major step towards integrating the maritime sector and fostering growth and development of major public sector ports in the country.Tech Mahindra is partnering with world class leading players like SAP, Envision, CISCO, Dell, RTCom and other major players.

The Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) has signed a concession agreement with Hooghly Oil & Gas Terminal to establish a liquid cargo handling terminal at Shalukhali in Haldia. The terminal will facilitate the movement of petroleum cargo such as LNG, LPG as well as vegetable oil. It is expected to develop over the next three years. The project will help reduce pre-berthing detention and turnaround time of tankers carrying different liquid cargo, leading to a reduction in logistics costs to trade. The new facility will come up at Shalukhkhali, 130 km from Kolkatta, where a second dock system was being planned at one stage. G Senthilvel, deputy chairman (Haldia), KoPT and Vimal Chopra, senior vice president (Business Development), IMC Ltd, signed the MoU in the presence of port chairman Vinit Kumar.

Indian Minister of State for Shipping, Mansukh Mandaviya inspected the facilities and ongoing projects at Kolkata Port Trust and GR Jetty of Inland Waterways Authority of India. Mandavia visited Netaji Subhas Dock at Kolkata Port Trust where he stressed upon the need for strengthening the Dry Dock facilities. He also inaugurated the renovated Birsa Munda Sarani and Sonapur Road of the Port, and  participated in the tree plantation activities organised by the Port Authorities. He later flagged off the state-of-the–art Seagoing Survey Launch (River Pearl-1) of KoPT. The launch is fitted with hull mounted inboard transducers and equipped with modern survey software for online data acquisition and processing along with AIS and radar. At the G.R.

India's Essar Ports has won a contract to build the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in West Bengal  under the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) at an investment of Rs 450 crore (USD 70 million). A Press Trust of India report said that the LNG project is expected to be commissioned in two years. The facility will come up at the Haldia port with a capacity to store one million tonne of the clean fuel. Haldia Dock Complex under Kolkata Port Trust had earlier this year invited bids for setting up an LNG terminal with storage and distribution facilities. Essar Ports, in consortium with Ultra LNG and Essar Shipping, had participated in the tender and emerged as the highest bidder for the project, beating state-owned Petronet and private operator V Energy.

All Major Ports have been directed to implement the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system to track the movement of men, materials and vehicles within the port premises on real time basis. Implementation of RFID system will eliminate manual checking of documents at port gate and real time tracking of movement of vehicles, men and materials. This would reduce congestion and also cost of operations at Ports. Ports have been directed to have the RFID system in place by 31.03.2017. At Haldia Dock Complex (HDC), Kolkata Port Trust,  for RFID based Vehicle Tracking and Management System work order placed on 9.5.2016. Software developed and other activities are in process. The entire project will be implemented by 31.12.2016.

The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has received a commitment for transport of 5.92 million tons (MTs) of cargo volume per annum through the Multimodal Terminal at Haldia by the year 2018. This follows a series of consultations IWAI held at Haldia with various industries, firms, shipping lines, cargo operators, shippers and manufacturers. The main items for which commitments have been received are fly-ash, edible oil, vegetable oil, gypsum, etc. Fly-ash is expected to be the major cargo with a commitment of 3.8 MT followed by vegetable oil (0.63 MT), cement (0.36 MT), among others. IWAI is to construct a Multimodal Terminal at Haldia under Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) which is being implemented with the technical and financial support of the World Bank at a cost of Rs.

Indian Government has given in principle approval to a grant of Rs. 515 crores ($77.4 Mln ) to make the development of the proposed Sagar Port project in West Bengal financially viable. This is part of the continuous efforts by the Ministry of Shipping during the last two years for the development of this port. A Special Purpose Vehicle, Bhor Sagar Port Limited (BSPL) has been incorporated for the implementation of the project, with Kolkata Port Trust holding 74% equity and the Government of West Bengal holding 26% equity. IIT, Madras has been engaged to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the port, involving studies for shore-protection, land reclamation and physical modeling for use of dredge material. The work of preparing the DPR is underway.

Kolkata, 3rd Feb, 2016: Industry leaders, corporate heads, policy makers and senior executives took part in the very first road show which served as a run up to the Maritime India Summit’16. Maritime India Summit is being organized by the Ministry of Shipping at Bombay Convention and Exhibition Centre, in Mumbai. Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has kindly consented to inaugurate the Summit on 14 April 2016. This event will comprise of an Investors’ Summit and an Exhibition. The Investors’ Summit will be held on 14 - 15 April 2016 whereas the Exhibition and Demo Sessions have been planned for three days i.e. 14 - 16 April 2016.

The Dredging Conference organized by Hinode in Kolkata on Thursday, January 21, 2016 will spotlight the vast opportunities that exists for dredging companies and other allied agencies in Inland Waters waters. The event is set to take place at the Park Hotel, 17 Park Street, Kolkata 700016. Kolkata occupies a special place as a major Riverine Port and Inland Waterways hub and the mouth of the Ganges River. Being an exclusive program and considering Indian Government plans now underway for interlinking rivers, promote Indian shipping and upscale port development activity, dredging in India has gained worldwide attention.Orgainzers find an unusual interest having been generated with registration for the conference taken on a rapid pace. Early registration is advisable to avoid disappointment.

The Kolkata Port Trust in their Notice No.MRN/HMR/99/10 dated 3 June 2014 have informed that the inward & outward draft for Kolkata Port for June 2014 from 11 June 2014 to 20 June 2014 is increased by 0.1 metre. Kolkata Port Trust

The 'INS Kamorta', the first in a class of Indian Navy's ambitious Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Corvettes, under construction at the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) shipyard ran aground on in the River Hooghly near Geonkhali in East Midnapore, while on sea trials, reports 'The Times of India'. Citing Navy officers, the newspaper reports that as the ship was negotiating the bends and bars of the Hooghly, its engines seem to have failed. Its steering gear also got jammed and it moved away from the navigation channel and got grounded near the shore at Geonkhali.

Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS) is advising that India’s Kolkata port is expecting to begin trans-loading operations from a new anchorage location within the Kanika Sands area by around June 2013. The Kolkata Port Trust declared the new trans-loading location to the south-west end of Kanika Sands is expected to begin in around three months’ time and follows Dhamra port authorities’ and Odisha Government’s opposition to a previously identified area nearer to Dhamra port. The new location is approximately 30 kilometres east of Dharma port. The Kolkata Port Trust will trans-load 70 per cent of the cargo to barges for respective destinations, while the rest will be transported to the Haldia dock complex.