Gandhidham, 13 May 2013

Kandla Port this month created history of handling cape size vessel mv Copper Smith of 79694 mts GRT carrying 1,37,537 mts imported coal of Mr D.P. Singh, Sara International and M/s Swiss Singapore Dubai.

The unloading process of coal began at 9 pm on 30th April and completed at 12.00 in midnight on 10th of May by Rishi shipping company through barge operation. It is for the first time that Capesize ship has been handled at any major port of India. The vessel discharged full quantity of 137537 mts at outer anchorage Kandla Port. Due to its size, the vessel could not enter harbour due to restriction of draft and LOA so full vessel to discharge through two floating cranes in to barges and barges to unload in B/Area and vacant space between two vessels. Alternative idea was berthing of loaded barges.

IFFCO is also planning to discharge full vessel at outer anchorage and barges will discharge on their captive jetty through conveyor and from conveyor they will directly store in their godown. IFFCO Kandla has developed Barge Jetty in Kandla IFFCO plant and the same will be operative from June/July.

Due to restriction of draft max 12 meters and LOA max 225 meters with relaxation of 240 meters subject to additional keel clearance of 0.6 meters only Supramax vessels at 12.00 mts draft are calling at Kandla Port. Despite spending thousand crore on dredging, Major Ports could not handle Panamax vessels while Kandla Port without increasing draft and broadening channel is going to handle Cape Size Vessel. This is the biggest achievement of Kandla Port which could be possible only due foresight of supporting barge operation and permitting use of two floating cranes for discharging Gearless vessels at outer anchorage. The barge operation doesn’t need any investment on dredging and investment of Rs. 300 crores on construction of each berth. Kandla port may have more barge jetties in future. Options are; either port develops barge jetties or permit users to invest for their captive use. If Captive jetties formula is approved, many users may come forward to invest in barge jetties to handle their captive cargoes and port will remain only landlord port and collect revenue without investment.

Without development of barge jetties, cape size vessels will not be calling at Kandla and Port can handle higher volume if port support in adding barge jetties in shallow water. Coastal movement can start from Kandla to neighbour anchorage ports. Govt is always concern with increasing coastal movement but despite all benefits offered by Central Government India is not successful in increasing Coastal Movement and Indian share in water transport is hardly 7% while 70% of cargo movement in Shanghai, Holland is by barges, the release said. At present large volume of containers moving from south Gujarat to Mundra port by Road and Rail which traffic can be shifted to coastal traffic.

Wikipedia on Cape Size vessels

Capesize ships are cargo ships originally too large to transit the Suez Canal (i.e., larger than both Panamax and Suezmax vessels).

They are typically above 150,000 long tons deadweight (DWT), and ships in this class include bulk carriers transporting coal, ore, and other commodity raw materials.

The term “Capesize” is most commonly used to describe bulk carriers rather than tankers. A standard Capesize bulker is around 175,000 DWT, although larger ships (normally dedicated to ore transportation) have been built, up to 400,000 DWT.

The large dimensions and deep drafts of such vessels mean that only the largest deep water terminals can accommodate them.

Capesize ships are commonly used in transportation of coal, iron ore and commodity raw materials. Because of this fact, they are often termed as bulk carriers rather than tankers.

In the subcategory of capesize vessels include the very large ore carriers (VLOC) and very large bulk carriers (VLBC) of above 200,000 DWT. These vessels are mainly designed to carry iron ore. According to estimates, 93% cargo of capesize bulkers comprises iron ore and coal. While a standard capesize vessel is around 175,000 DWT, bulkers up to 400,000 DWT or even more have been built in recent times to meet the growing demand for bulk ore transportation carriers.