Visakhapatnam Port Trust to take up Rs 103 crore cruise terminal

VISAKHAPATNAM: The Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) will take up the construction of a cruise terminal in August at a cost of Rs 103 crore.  Speaking to mediapersons here on Saturday, VPT Chairman K Rama Mohana Rao said the cruise terminal project will be taken up after the submission of DPR by IIT Chennai. The terminal will help promote tourism in Visakhapatnam and its neighbourhood. 

As a measure to reduce the pollution caused by ore in the Port City, covered storage yards will be built at a cost of Rs 36 crore and they will be completed by June. Rao said the VPT performed well despite the Covid-19 pandemic last fiscal compared to other major ports in the county.

The VPT stood third in the country by handling 69.84 million tonnes of cargo in 2020-21, which is the second highest annual cargo handling in the history of the port. For the second consecutive year, the VPT has achieved the distinction among major ports. 

The port showed its resilience to severe disruptions in supply chains and economic downturn due to the Covid pandemic. But the port fell short of  3 million tonnes of cargo handling in the last fiscal, compared to the record volume of 72.72 million tonnes achieved in 2019-20, he said.

VPT handled 2,040 ships in 20-21  against 2,099 in 19-20

The VPT had achieved success in restricting the decline in volume to 4 per cent, compared to 7 per cent by other major ports. The port earned an operating surplus of `698 crore and a net surplus of `306 crore, he said.Speaking on other parameters of performance, he said the average waiting time of a ship improved to 1.15 hours in 2020-21 as against 1.22 hours in 2019-20. The VPT handled 2,040 ships in 2020-21 as against 2,099 in 2019-20. The port railways handled a cargo volume of 32.35 million tonnes in 2020-21 and exceeded the handling of 32.13 million tonnes in the previous fiscal.

As many as 9,635 rakes were handled in 2020-21 despite Covid as against 9,174 rakes in 2019-20.  Nearly 460 additional rakes were handled by the port railway system in the last fiscal. The VPT had succeeded in minimising the impact of Covid on exim cargo and coastal cargo by coordinating with major stakeholders like railways, CONCOR, stevedores and shipping agents, he said.  Rao said a command control centre is functioning at the Administrative Office Building to exclusively monitor environmental issues. 

Other projects
The extension of the existing container terminal at the VPT has been awarded to VCTPL. The extension project to handle 5.4 lakh TEUs will be completed by December. The VPT had finalised 27 MoUs worth Rs 28,875 crore investments as part of the Maritime Summit 2021, the VPT chief said. 

VIZAG PORT STANDS 3RD IN PERFORMANCE
The VPT stood third among major ports in the country by handling 69.84 million tonnes of cargo in 2020-21. The port earned an operating surplus of Rs 698 crore and a net surplus of Rs 306 crore. The VPT handled 2,040 ships in 2020-21 as against 2,099 in 2019-20. The port railways handled a cargo of 32.35 million tonnes in 2020-21 and exceeded the handling of 32.13 million tonnes in previous fiscal