The Indian Shipping Ministry has given the green light to the establishment of a dedicated, one million TEU per annum capacity container terminal at Diamond Harbour on the River Hooghly, within the jurisdiction of Kolkata Port Trust.
The decision to implement all of the recommendations of a committee chaired by PVK Mohan was taken in New Delhi at a high-level meeting chaired by shipping minister TR Baalu.
The box facility will have three container berths and two barge jetties. Earlier, the Kolkata Port Trust was mulling setting up three separate berths for handling liquid bulk, dry bulk and containers at Diamond Harbour.
With the Shipping Ministry accepting to set up a dedicated container terminal, KoPT’s plan was no longer in the running. It means that all three 240m berths would be handling only containers, and not bulk cargo.
Under the dedicated terminal plan, there will also be two barge jetties, each one 100m in length, making the linear quayline nearly one km long.
The purpose of constructing barge jetties is to focus on large-scale transportation of containers by barges to and from the proposed terminal.
On completion of the terminal, feeder vessels will stop calling at either KDS or Haldia dock.
Instead, there would be barge transportation of boxes, both loaded and empties, between KDS or Haldia and the proposed terminal.
A two km long railway line will be constructed to connect the terminal with the Eastern Railway’s network at Diamond Harbour.
New roads will also be needed to connect the newly-built terminal with National Highway 117, although the movement of containers by road will not be considered a priority in the foreseeable future.
The decision to implement all of the recommendations of a committee chaired by PVK Mohan was taken in New Delhi at a high-level meeting chaired by shipping minister TR Baalu.
The box facility will have three container berths and two barge jetties. Earlier, the Kolkata Port Trust was mulling setting up three separate berths for handling liquid bulk, dry bulk and containers at Diamond Harbour.
With the Shipping Ministry accepting to set up a dedicated container terminal, KoPT’s plan was no longer in the running. It means that all three 240m berths would be handling only containers, and not bulk cargo.
Under the dedicated terminal plan, there will also be two barge jetties, each one 100m in length, making the linear quayline nearly one km long.
The purpose of constructing barge jetties is to focus on large-scale transportation of containers by barges to and from the proposed terminal.
On completion of the terminal, feeder vessels will stop calling at either KDS or Haldia dock.
Instead, there would be barge transportation of boxes, both loaded and empties, between KDS or Haldia and the proposed terminal.
A two km long railway line will be constructed to connect the terminal with the Eastern Railway’s network at Diamond Harbour.
New roads will also be needed to connect the newly-built terminal with National Highway 117, although the movement of containers by road will not be considered a priority in the foreseeable future.