Visakhapatnam Port Undergoing Expansion

After the Visakhapatnam Airport, there is now news of the Port of Visakhapatnam being in expansion mode. The Visakhapatnam port had previously been notified as a second gateway port for additional transit to Nepal in 2009. The expansion will include construction of new berths, state of the art equipment and deepening of channels for accommodation of larger vessels. Two berths are being developed in the inner harbour to handle coastal cargo. The existing container terminal situated at the outer harbour is also being extended.

The movement between the Port of Visakhapatnam and Nepal will be in sealed container and in full rake. Most of the cargo that comes in from Nepal will be from China. A team headed by Dr. Somlal Subedi, Chief Secretary, Government of Nepal, visited Visakhapatnam in June and left highly impressed with the facilities available here. The government of Nepal had been using Kolkata and Haldia port in the past as Nepal does not have a port of its own. 16 containers of import cargo were dispatched from the Visakhapatnam port by Dr. Somlal Subedi when he was here.

Nepal is now expecting to increase it’s GDP from eight to ten percent in the coming years.

The ongoing expansion plans are:

A West Quay North berth (WQ-7 & WQ-8) in inner harbour with the capacity of 6.39 MTPA

A Multi-purpose terminal by replacing EQ-2 to EQ-5 berths in inner harbour with the capacity of 6.0 MTPA

Installation of 2 mobile harbour cranes on license basis with a capacity of 3.0 MTPA

To reduce tarriff and increase productivity, utilise assets to their maximum, and to compete with major ports, the measures taken are:

Productivity norms for different types of cargoes are being fixed on a scientific basis and being implemented

40 per cent rebate in vessel and cargo related charges given for coastal vessels

Cargo handling levy on general cargo, bagged cargo, steel and project cargo removed completely

Cargo handling levy on unloading of thermal coal wagons reduced from 499 per cent to 150 per cent

Concessions are being extended to 100 per cent, if 20 per cent growth is shown over previous year’s cargo handling

25 per cent discount on the sum of port dues and pilotage on scale of rates approved by TAMP for all container vessels, including mainline vessels, irrespective of the size of vessels (GRT) in terms of the provisions of clause 12 of TAMP Approved Scale of Rates, 2011

50 per cent concession for mainline container vessels of 50,000 GRT and above

50 per cent concession for all container vessels when the service is giving direct connectivity to ports not covered by existing lines