Buoyed by the encouraging response to simulation studies carried out in Singapore, the Visakhapatnam Port Trust has set in motion an exercise to handle Baby Cape vessels with 1.20 lakh deadweight tonnage in the inner harbour from January 2020.
At present, the port can handle Panamax vessels with a DWT of 70,000.
“Our efforts to handle large vessels will help us climb the ladder in the ranking among major ports by increasing the export and import throughput,” VPT Chairman K. Rama Mohan Rao told The Hindu .
A team led by VPT Deputy Chairman P.L. Haranadh visited FORCE Technology Maritime Simulation Services Pte Ltd. in September to carry out simulation studies.
Mr. Haranadh said that against the present handling of 230 metres LOA (overall length)/32.5 metres beam, Baby Cape with 230/45 was successfully navigated at West Quay 7. Cape vessel (290/45) with 15.20 metres draft was handled at East Quay 2 on tide. To receive larger vessels in both the inner and outer harbours, the port will depute its pilots for training in Singapore shortly.
The successful studies also proved that the port was in a position to receive post-Panamax vessels to give a boost to traffic at Visakha Container Terminal Private Ltd located in the Outer Harbour. VCTPL has the deepest draft among container terminals in the country with plans to expand with an extended jetty length of 396 metres in addition to the present capacity of 450 metres, at a cost of ₹633 crore (pre-revised) by 2021.
VCTPL, a BOT operator, is now handling vessels up to 320-metre LOA vessels. Simulation studies confirmed that it can handle bigger container liners with 366 LOA/51 beam and 397/57 subject to higher tug power.
VPT will be benefited by handling more non-coal Baby Cape/Cape vessels, thus brightening the scope of receiving cargo like bauxite, pet coke and gypsum.
VPT achieved an incremental traffic of 1.76 million tonnes with a compound annual growth rate of 5% during 2018-19. The port, which handled 65.30 million tonnes as against 63.54 million tonnes in 2017-18, has plans to achieve 70 million tonnes throughput within the next eighteen months.
