The Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT), the country?s second-largest handler of cargo, is losing Rs 40 lakh a day because of heavy silting at its main docks following shipping minister TR Baalu?s decision to divert dredgers to the Sethusamudram ship channel project, off Tamil Nadu.
Shipping ministry sources said they have given a note to the minister seeking to divert two maintenance dredgers from the Sethu project to Haldia but the minister is yet to respond. ?Deploying dredgers is completely in the hands of Baalu although the agreements are made with Dredging Corporation of India,? ministry officials said.
Against the seven dredgers required to clear a navigable channel for ocean going vessels, Haldia has been left with two functional ones.
Silting is a major problem for KoPT, with its original berths at Kolkata 104 km upstream of the point where the Hooghly river meets the Bay of Bengal. Haldia, which is nearer the river mouth, handled 43.5 million tonne of cargo last year, or 76% of the total of 57.28 million tonne handled by the KoPT.
KoPT officials said the draught at Haldia—which is calculated on the basis of the depth in the Auckland Channel plus the tidal rise minus under-keel clearance (UKC)—has come down to 7 metre from an average requirement of 8.5 metre.
The UKC has shrunk to 0.9 metre from October 15, against the minimum requirement of 1.25 metre. Oceangoing vessels, faced with the prospect of having less than a metre of water between their keel and the river bed, are steering clear of KoPT and opting for Paradeep and Vizag, leaving five to six berths unoccupied every day. As a result, cargo volumes at KoPT have come down to just 80,000 tonne a day against 1,20,000 tonne a day earlier. Of the 15 berths at HDC, only 9-10 berths are being occupied a day. The KoPT earns Rs 7.74 lakh from each vessel calling at Haldia.