CALCUTTA: Calcutta High Court has allowed E.C. Bose & Co to take up the on-shore cargo-handling contract for two berths at Haldia, fuelling hopes of a speedy resumption of work in the port’s most productive assets.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice Joymalya Bagchi set aside the challenge of Bose’s competing firm and allowed the Calcutta Port Trust (CPT) to go ahead with the multi-year contract.
There is no port-appointed operator for berths 2 and 8 – Haldia’s most productive and mechanised berths for handling bulk cargo such as coal and iron ore – after the consortium of ABG of Mumbai and LDA of France left in November 2012 alleging lack of safety of its employees.
CPT chairman R.P.S. Kahlon said the port would award the contract to the successful bidder on October 7.
“The party will have three months to start operation. It will handle all the cargo on these two berths both from geared and gearless vessels,” Kahlon said.
The CPT has separately selected Bothra Group and a consortium of IRC and Orissa Stevedore Ltd to operate mobile harbour cranes in the two berths.
Once the cranes are operational, the berths will be ready to operate geared vessels, or bigger ships fitted with handling equipment. Each berth will be capable to handle 20,000 tonnes of cargo per day.
Partha Sadhan Bose, chairman and managing director of E.C. Bose & Co, welcomed the court order and said his company was preparing to commence operation.
“We are in dialogue with earth moving equipment suppliers to start operation. Work on these two berths should begin from January 2016,” Bose said.
According to port observers, operational costs are likely to be halved once crane and shore-handling operations start. The port will pay crane operators and shore handlers around Rs 137 a tonne to transport cargo from ship to shore and then from shore to stockyard to trucks or railways. It may charge around Rs 200 a tonne from the trade who pay nearly double that amout at present.
This will not only make Haldia competitive against Dhamra and Pardip ports but also bring in new traffic once transloading operations begin at the high sea for bigger ships.
