V.O.Chidambaranar Port Trust on 7th February organized the function where the Hon’ble Union Minister of Shipping Thiru G.K. Vasan inaugurated the state of art Vessel Traffic Management System, Modern Green Gate Port Entry Complex and Occupational Health Centre at the Port Hospital.
The Vessel Traffic Management System installed at a cost of Rs.8.77 crores incorporates state of art equipments like RADAR, AIS, VHF, INMARSAT-C and UHF MODEM with latest Software design for detection, tracking and analysis of all vessels in the Harbour waters and beyond Port limit with a coverage of 48 NM. This facility shall enhance Port Security.
The Modern Green Gate Complex constructed at the cost of Rs.11.02 crores has 4 Entry points & 4 Exit points for congestion free movement of Cargo and Container vehicles. Sophisticted Radiological Detectors, Speed Camera, Swipe Card System, Boom Barriers and Weigh Bridges, are also installed in the complex. Offices for Port, Customs and CISF are also part of the modern complex.
The Occupational Health Centre established in the Port Hospital is aimed at Prevention and Management of Occupational, Environmental illness, Injury and Disability of workers. The facility shall benefit more than 800 workers.
In the august presence of the Hon’ble Minister, V.O.Chidambaranar Port Trust and M/s. Transtroy – OJSC Consortium, Hyderabad signed the concesstion agreement for Development of North Cargo Berth-III at an estimated cost of Rs.420 crores for handling Thermal Coal and Rock Phosphate. This facility upon completion shall increase the capacity of the Port by another 9.15 Million Tonnes per annum. It is also proposed to dredge and deepen the area infront of the berth at an estimated cost of about Rs.448 crores to cater 12.8 mtrs. draught vessels which is part of the Rs.1747 crores Inner Harbour dredging project of the Port.
The Maritime Agenda 2020 envisages augmenting Indian Ports capacity to 3.2 Billion Tonees to handle 2.5 Billion Tonnes of Traffic for which many Port specific development projects have been initiated. The capacity of the Indian Ports which was 574.77 Million Tonnes during 2009 has been enhanced to 1312.81 Million Tonnes in 2012-13 due to implementation of projects under the National Maritime Agenda 2020. Indian Major Port have handled 933.66 MT in the year 2012-13.
The present capacity of V.O.Chidambaranar Port Trust at 33.34 Million Tonnes is invisaged to increase to 85 Million Tonnes upon completion of Innner Harbour Development projects. The Detailed Project Report of the ambitious Outer Harbour Project has been recently released by Hon’ble Minister. This Outer Harbour Project would augment the Port capacity by another 328 Million Tonnes. Upon completion of the Inner Harbour development projects currently underway in many stages and the proposed Outer Harbour Project, the Port capacity will increase to 413 Million Tonnes, thereby making
V.O. Chidambaranar Port a very high volume Port in the region. This will pave way for rapid economic development of Souther region of our Country.
The Hon’ble Minister also presented awards for the Port Users for Excellance in Traffic performance for the year 2012-13 in which he congratulated the winners and other Port users and exhorted them to aim even higher achievement in the future. He also commended the Port administration for their excellent performance during the last few years.
