Kolkata Port Trust and Jindal ITF to form pact

Kolkata Port is looking at transloading toseek a long-term solution to its low-river draft issues. The port will start round-the-clock transloading of bulk cargo from large vessels from early next year. “We will sign the concession agreement with Jindal ITF, for conducting all weather transloading from Kanika Sands and Sand heads in the high sea, on September 21. They will take three months to start the operations,” RPS Kahlon, chairman of Kolkata Port Trust, stated in a press statement. Once operational, large Panamax or Capesise vessels can anchor at the high sea for unloading of cargo to smaller vessels. Currently, Jindal carries out such transloading operations for fuel imported by NTPC. The upcoming facility will be unload up to 26,000 tonne of bulk cargo a day (which means a panax vessel can be unloaded in three days). There will be two transloaders that can store 7,000 tonne of cargo each and three daughter vessels of 20,000 tonne capacity will be deployed to ferry the cargo to Haldia port.