Way back in 2015 the container terminals
in Chennai port were facing acute congestion issues when the main project to
evacuate containers through elevated corridor to Maduravoyal got derailed in
political battle between the Kazhagam ruling the state. Ships bound for
terminals in Chennai port got diverted to the nearby Katupalli port.
It was then the
port chairman P Ravindran and his team came up with two out of the box
solutions to end the problem crippling the terminal industry in the port.
When the container terminals in Gujarat
and JNPA were flourishing, Chennai port which pioneered container facilities
way back in 1980, it looked like a dead end. Mega container project proposed by
the Chennai port had no takers. Tenders were called twice but there was no
response from the industry. The project was called off.
The first project was
the setting up of a satellite port at Puducherry so that containers can move straight to
Chennai port without creating any congestion on the way side including the Port
entrance. The other one was a Multi Modal Logistics Park at Jolarpet, the
Gateway for containers bound for Chennai port from Bengaluru and Coimbatore. With
Railway Board acting pricey on the cost of land at Jolarpet railway station,
the project was cut to size as a Goods shed.
Mr Ravindran and
his team signed a Memorandum of understanding with the Puducherry port way back
in 2017 on the creation of a satellite port. They wanted the service to start the
same year. But the project encountered serious problems with the draft
available at Puducherry port.
Puducherry port had stopped cargo
handling operations for the past several years but when it was doing so, the
ships dropped anchors miles away from the port and the cargo handling
operations were conducted in the mid sea. They
were brought to the port through barges. There was lot of siltation which
did not allow ships to berth along side. The Satellite port project was
intended deepen the entrance channel and the port so that ships could berth
alongside the port.
Tenders were called to deepen the port to
four meters draft. The red tape involving the Union Port and Shipping Ministry
and the Puducherry government dragged the issue for nearly four years. Then
there were narrow bridges on the road leading to Puducherry port which needed
to be strengthened and widened.
So what was conceived as a year-long
project took over five years to come to fruition. In a related development Cuddalore port about 10 kilometres from
Puducherry has also been revived. Two alongside berths have been
constructed through a joint venture project between the Tamil Nadu Maritime
board and the shipping ministry under the Sagar Mala project. They were looking
for a private operator to run and market the port when reports came in a few months
ago. In a related development in the area the full fledged Karaikal port
situated about 70 kms from Cuddalore has been taken over by the Adani group a
few days ago.