PIB News Update:Minister of State for Shipping(I/C)Shri Mansukh Mandaviya has informed that The Government of India has taken concerted efforts in the direction of expansion and modernization of major ports of the country. Infrastructure development and capacity augmentation of major ports is an ongoing process. It involves construction of new berths and terminals, mechanization of existing berths and terminals, capital dredging for deepening of drafts for attracting large vessels in port channels, development of road and rail connectivity etc. As a result, the cargo handling capacity of the major ports has gone upto 1534.91 Million Tonnes Per Annum(MTPA) as on 31st March 2020. Accordingly, Vishakhapatnam Port Trust has developed plans with investments from private sector in addition to the investments from internal resources in the major thrust areas of “deepening of channels and berths. The current capacity of Vishakhapatnam Port Trust(VPT) is 126.89 million tonnes. With the completion of ongoing capacity addition projects, the capacity is projected to be 141.64 million tonnes by FY 2023. A list of projects for modernization and mechanization accomplished by Port of Visakhapatnam are at Annexure.
Annexure
| S.No. | Name of the Project | Capacity
(MMTA) |
Cost
(Rs. Cr.) |
| DBFOT | |||
| 1 | Mechanization of coal handling facilities and upgradation of GCB in OH to cater 200,000 DWT vessels | 10.18 | 444.10 |
| 2 | Development of EQ1 berth by replacing the Existing EQ1 berth and part of EQ2 berth for handling Steam coal | 6.41 | 323.18 |
| 3 | Development of WQ-6 berth for Liquid Cargo Terminal in the inner harbour | 2.09 | 114.50 |
| 4 | Development of EQ-10 berth in IH for handling liquid cargo & chemicals on DBFOT | 1.84 | 55.38 |
| 5 | Upgradation of the existing mechanized facility in the Outer Harbour for Iron Ore handling | 16.20 | 580.89 |
| 6 | Extension of the existing container terminal (DBFOT) (Progressing) | 9.50 | 633.11 |
| Port berths | |||
| 7 | Development of Green channel berth in the North Western arm of IH by Port | 1.66 | 45.30 |
| 8 | Ph-III Dredging | — | 280.00 |
| 9 | Strengthening of existing EQ-7 berth in the northern arm of IH to cater 14 mtrs draft vessels | — | 16.50 |
| 10 | Development of WQ-7 & WQ-8 berths in the inner harbour by Port | 6.39 | 243.23 |
| 11 | Conversion of EQ-2 to 5 berths in the inner harbour into two new quay berths | 6.45 | 181.73 |
| 12 | Development of additional oil handling facility along with OR-1 and OR-2 in the inner harbour (Progressing) | 5.25 | 168.00 |
| Other connectivity / Logistics | |||
| 13 | Establishment of Container Freight Stations (CFS) Ph-I by existing BoT Operator M/s. VCTPL | 162.21 | |
| 14 | Development of Multi Modal Logistic hub Ph-II of M/s. CONCOR | 372.00 | |
| 15 | Ph-II connectivity of Vizag Port to NH-16 to 4 lane (4 kms) | 76.94 | |
| 16 | Installation of 10 MW Solar Power Projects | 70.00 | |
| 17 | MMLH by VPT and Balmer Lawrie & Co. (JV) | 211.00 | |
| 18 | Restoration / Rehabilitation of breasting and mooring dolphin of offshore tanker terminal (OSTT) at Outer harbour | 20.67 | |
| 19 | Installation of RFID Gate Management system | 6.94 | |
| 20 | Installation of mobile container scanner (Progressing) | 29.68 | |
| 21 | Construction of Grade separator from H7 area to PCR (Progressing) | 59.91 | |