Gopalpur Port sets record in cargo handling

BERHAMPUR: Record amount of cargo was handled in a single day on February 20,2009 at the seasonal anchorage port at Goplapur near Berhampur city on Orissa coast.
Joyous moments
It led to joyous moments at this port, which is being transformed into an all weather mega port. As per the authorities of the Gopalpur Ports Limited (GPL), on Wednesday they could handle around 10,100 metric tonnes of cargo at this anchorage port. Never before in its history had such large amount of cargo been handled at this anchorage port since its inception in 1987. A ship carrying 50,000 tonnes of fertilizer imported by Indian Potash Limited (IPL) is now anchored in sea near the Gopalpur port. Cargo from the ship is being carried to the port through large barges. The seasonal port became functional in December like earlier years. Till now it has handled around 2,60,000 tonnes of cargo. The port authorities envision that they would be able to handle about four lakh tonnes of cargo during the current season of operation, which is to end in May due to changing climatic condition. Last year this port had handled around three lakh tonnes of cargo. The port authorities said they are able to handle more cargo this year due to better infrastructure. They now have 12 large barges of which eight are self propelled. The seasonal anchorage port at Gopalpur was being managed by the Orissa government since its inception. It was taken over by the GPL three years back for its development into an all weather port with an investment of more than Rs. 1700 crores.
MoU signed
The GPL happens to be a consortium of Orissa Stevedores Ltd. (OSL), Noble Group Ltd. of Hong Kong and Sara International Ltd., which entered into an MoU with the Orissa government to take over the Gopalpur port to develop it into a major all weather port on Build-Operate-Own-Share-Transfer (BOOST) basis by 2010.
After taking over the Goplapur port, the GPL decided to restart the seasonal port which had stopped cargo operation for several years under the State government. Initially it was able to handle small cargo ships. But now the port has been able to handle cargo ships with more than 50,000 tonnes of cargo despite the fact that the cargo has to be carried by barges from the ship to the coast.

February 20, The Hindu