MULTI-PURPOSE BERTHS FOR CALCUTTA..

As readers of PS will have noticed, South Asian port development projects – India in particular – almost warrant their own news department in the magazine. Nevertheless, berth congestion appears to be on the increase at major ports throughout India. For the nine months ending December 2005, the average vessel turnaround time was 3.53 days compared with 3.41 days (2004-05) and 3.45 days (2003-04). In addition, pre-berthing times at major ports have gone up from 4.86 hours (2003-04) to 6.03 hours (2004-05) and thence to 9.16 hours in April-December 2005. During the last calendar year, cargo handled by major ports grew by 12.4%, perhaps explaining the increasing congestion.

Simplex Infrastructure has been awarded a €4.24m contract to build a multipurpose berth at Haldia dock in Calcutta. The 250m long facility will be supported by a backup area of 14,000 sq m. This follows an earlier contract awarded to ITD Cementation to build another multipurpose berth in the same dock at a cost of €4.61m for a 260m long structure with 14,000 sq m of backup land. Upon completion, the dock will be equipped with 14 multipurpose facilities.