New port for West Bengal

The Indian government has recently proposed partially funding the development of a port on Sagar Island in West Bengal, hoping to release the bottleneck that presently strangles the area.

If dredged, the port would have a draught of 12 metres, and would help provide an alternative outlet for vessels currently unable to access either Kolkata or Haldia because of worsening draft restrictions in the Hooghly River.

Earlier this year local industries rerouted bulk cargo away from Haldia towards Paradip, Gangavaram and Visakhapatnam ports, causing congestion problems in these facilities as well as impacting on rail freight. It may well also have been the tipping point for government action.

Kolkata Port Trust (which manages both Kolkata and Haldia docks) first proposed a facility with cargo handling facilities, complete with several berths and jetties at Sagar Island as far back as 2002. However, it has languished on the backburner since, with the project being passed through the Shipping Ministry and the government of Japan (which was approached to help with funding) – but so far no concrete action has really been taken.

With the new source of money to be injected into the project, it looks like Kolkata (KoPT) may get its wish, and the development looks like being kick-started with KoPT taking the lead role.

The port trust has already invited expressions of interest for the proposed facility, and it seems quite a number of logistics, infrastructure and shipping companies have shown interest in the project.

The Sagar island development would certainly benefit the region. The area has had problems getting coal, amongst other cargo, into the local steel mills and power plants for some time, so the fact that the port facility would have the potential to handle dry bulk cargo like coking coal, thermal coal, iron ore, and containers would be a great help to the whole West Bengal economy. Tankers up to Suezmax type with a parcel load up to about 80,000 tonnes would also be able to be received.

(Source: Port Strategy)