Krishnapatnam Port Boosts Container, Bulk Capacity

Krishnapatnam Port is one of India’s fastest growing seaports. It has emerged as a world-class port with outstanding services, facilities and is fast becoming a port of choice for all international cargo originating from and destined to the Southern and Central India. 

It is a deep water, all weather port with 365 days, 24x7 operations that is being developed on build-operate-share-transfer basis in public-private partnership mode between the government of Andhra Pradesh and the Krishnapatnam Port Company promoted by C.V.R. Group.

The port, situated in the Muthukur Mandal of Nellore district in the state of Andhra Pradesh, is been developed on 6,800 acres of area. It started operations after Phase I development in July 2008, and now Krishnapatnam Port Container Terminal (KPCT) is poised to develop into a world-class container terminal by optimizing necessary land and sea-side infrastructure.

KPCT is one of the largest and fast-growing container terminals on the east coast of India. The world-class, all-weather terminal has the advantage of flexible tariff, uncongested road and rail connectivity extending directly into the container yard, modern terminal infrastructure and outstanding services. 

The 1.2 million TEU terminal with 18-metre draft, 650-metre wharf length, 5 Super-Post Panamax cranes with twin-lift capability and a reach of 23 across, plans to boost its capacity to six million TEU – the highest container volumes ever on the East Coast. KPCT has already received good response from liners, feeder operators, importers and exporters. Vessels of Maersk Line, MSC Line and several feeder operators call at the terminal. Further, Krishnapatnam Port has large area earmarked for storage, handling and processing facilities as required by trade.

Due to the phenomenal growth of the port and the industries around it, Krishnapatnam has been finalized as one of only three industrial nodes in the Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor (CBIC), being promoted jointly by governments of India and Japan

With several regional and international companies interested in making huge investments across various projects in Andhra Pradesh, the state is expected to see massive industrialization and growth. The government’s Special Category Status granted to Andhra Pradesh for five years, along with tax incentives for 10, will further add to the growth momentum in the region.

Dry bulk handling

With India’s coal imports trending upwards, Krishnapatnam Port expects to play a key role in handling surging coal imports. Not only did it become the first port to handle 1,00,000 containers cargo in less than one and half years of the commencement of its Krishnapatnam Port Container Terminal, it is the first port to have the deepest draft (18.5m) on the East Coast enabling it to handle large-sized cape vessels. 

Commissioned in July 2008, the port has been seeing a surge in cargo handling, especially coal. While the port handled only 4,40,554 MT of coal between July 2008 and March 2009, it recorded a huge, several-fold jump in coal handling in these four years and handled a 1,97,51,045 MT of coal last financial year. 

One of the major factors driving the growth is India’s increasing dependence on coal imports. Of the country’s projected coal imports of 240 MT by financial year 15-16, KPCL is aiming to have a bigger share and eyes on importing around 40 to 50 MMTs of coal by financial year 16. 

For Krishnapatnam Port, the imports are going to feed the surrounding industries, steel plants and power plants. Currently, seven power generating companies are located surrounding the port area. Several power companies are currently building coal-fired electricity generating units in and around Krishnapatnam with a capacity that is likely to go up to 15,000 MW. 

Additionally, Krishnapatnam being announced one among the proposed 100 Industrial Smart Cities in India, the demand for coal will further go up to meet the industrial requirements in the region. 

The port has recently inaugurated a mechanized coal handling system which facilitates quick unloading of coal through the ship unloaders and conveyed through a conveyor system that has a capacity of 3,000 tons per hour and can directly transport cargo to its destination. Two TRF ship-unloaders, each with a capacity of 1,500 tons capacity per hour, have been added into the port infrastructure. 

The port is further increasing the drafts of its berths for enabling more berths to accommodate larger sized vessels for increasing volumes.