Major ports asked to step up dredging

NEW DELHI: Union minister of shipping, road transport and highways TR Baalu has asked major ports to step up dredging work. He has asked chairpersons of the 12 major ports to ensure that they dedicate all available equipment for dredging requirements. Dredging capacity needs to augmented to accommodate larger vessels calling at the ports.

In a meeting held to review the performance of major ports on Wednesday, the minister asked major port authorities to streamline the procedure for procuring dredging equipment.

Mr Baalu also reviewed the progress of important projects such as offshore container terminal, second chemical berth and harbour wall berths at Mumbai port, capital dredging projects at JNPT, Paradip, Ennore and Tuticorin ports, International Container Transhipment Terminal project at Cochin and development of facilities at Tekra (Tuna) at Kandla. He asked the ministry officials to co-ordinate efforts with the port authorities to expedite work on pending projects.

The review also highlighted the half-yearly traffic handled at the major ports, which has grown at 6.13% over the corresponding period last year. Efficiency parameters like turnaround time and pre-berthing time have registered improvement over the corresponding period last year for most of the major ports.

In some ports, this increase has been due to priority berthing being accorded to wheat and fertiliser vessels.