Essar Bulk Terminal Hazira prepares to expand capacity
Published by Harleigh Hobbs,
Editor
World Coal,
The 550 m berth of Essar Bulk Terminal Ld (EBTL) in Hazira, India, is being expanded by a further 1100 m to accommodate the steady growth in cargo throughput at the port. With the expansion, the capacity of the Hazira terminal will increase from the existing 30 million tpy to 50 million tpy.
Once the expansion is completed, the port will have capability of simultaneously handling 7 vessels at any point of time.
Essar Bulk Terminal is investing Rs 750 crore in the expansion project, which along with the existing investment of Rs 2,450 crore, will take the total investment in Hazira port to Rs 3200 crore.
The company has already invested in creating an all-weather mechanised deep draft port, which is capable of handling capesize vessels. The port has a draft of 14 m, which allows direct berthing of the largest of bulk cargo carriers. The company has dredged an 8.8 km channel on the Tapi river. Approximately, 80 million m3 has been dredged until date, making it one of the largest dredging activities in the country.
Rajiv Agarwal, CEO & Managing Director, Essar Ports Limited, said: “EBTL has huge potential and is moving in the right direction to unlock that potential. Its performance in the last one year has been extremely heartening. I have no doubt that the expansion project will help the company scale new heights.”
In the quarter ending 30 June 2016, traffic at the port increased by 80% to 4.4 million t, as against 2.4 million t in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The cargo growth is backed by a ramp-up in operations by Essar Steel’s 10 million t plant in Hazira. The total port traffic is expected to reach 24 million t in FY17, as against 12.7 million t in FY16.
EBTL has also received permission from the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) to handle 15 million t of third-party cargo over three years. In FY16, 0.75 million t of third-party traffic was handled. This is expected to grow to 5 million t by FY18.
Commenting on the development, Capt. S Das, CEO-EBTL, said: “The Hazira Terminal has been integral to fulfilling the cargo handling requirement of Essar Steel plant. The expanded terminal will not only help us service the enhanced requirements of our anchor customer, but also cater to our growing volumes of third-party cargo.”
Edited from press release by Harleigh Hobbs
Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/handling/27072016/essar-bulk-terminal-hazira-prepares-to-expand-capacity-2084/
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