Kolkata Port Trust teams up with Cochin Shipyard to restore Netaji Subhas Dock

Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) has tied up with Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) for operations and maintenance of ship repair facility at Netaji Subhas Dock, the dry dock which was abandoned since 2015.

Interacting with the media on Wednesday, chairman of Kolkata Port Trust, Vinit Kumar said, “A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed with CSL for revamping of the dry docks at Netaji Subhas Dock.”

Prior to its abandonment in 2015, the docks could repair 10-12 ships every year. While KoPT will provide required waterfront, land and dry dock, CSL will invest about Rs 25 crore, the entire required amount, towards making the machinery and workshop facility functional. “KoPT used to be very famous for its ship repairing expertise and we now want to restore that glory,” Kumar added.

Kumar also said that the capacity would be increased to 16-18 ships annually and the turnover was expected to rise to Rs 50 crore per annum. “The profit sharing ratio would be 60:40 between CSL and KoPT, respectively,” Kumar said.

Kumar also said that in 2017-18, KoPT had created a record in terms of cargo handling. “It handled 57.886 million tonne (mt) of traffic inn 2017-18 creating an all time record, surpassing the previous highest of 57.329 mt handled in 2007-08. It had also registered a growth of 13.61 per cent over 50.951 mt handled in 2016-17 which has been the third highest among major ports, and higher than the average growth of 4.79 clocked y major Indian ports,” he said.

With an aim to attract more Nepalese cargo handling which accounts for about 15 per cent of the consolidated topline of KoPT, it has decided to bring in more transparency. “One of the bones of contention earlier was about lack of information regarding rates charged by KoPT and Vizag Port Trust (VPT). We have now put up all our rates on our website and by bringing in such transparency we expect the Naplese cargo handling rate would rise as well,” he said when asked about the business lost to VPT, last year but added that in spite of the loss of container traffic to VPT, the overall traffic movement for Nepal grew by 3-4 per cent.