Haldia port without rudder, ships wait in queue

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarty met Cabinet secretary K M Chandrashekhar on Tuesday to discuss ways to turn around the plight of the Haldia dock, where 58 ships are waiting to be unloaded due to lack of proper dredging facilities.
Union Shipping Secretary APVN Sharma is also scheduled to meet Chakrabarty to find out ways to address the problems of the Haldia port where the movement of ships has slowed down due to excessive silting and fall in the draft to below 8 m.
“Unless something is done immediately, it might lead to serious repercussions for business at the dock,” said Chakrabarty.
Rajeev Dubey, deputy chairman of Haldia dock complex, however, denied that the port is facing any crisis.
He, however, admitted that it was an ‘abnormal situation’ to have so many ships lined up at the dock. The number, he claimed, was 52.
“The infrastructure at Haldia can allow the movement of 10 ships in a day and the increase in freight movement has led to the queuing up of ships at the dock,” said Dubey. He added that the movement of ships in the dock has been on a rise since the middle of December due to a sharp fall in freight charges and certain Government subsidies that were introduced to help the shipping industry during the economic downturn.
With the cost of engaging a ship coming down to as low as $500, there was a rush to cash in on the reduced prices, said Dubey. He also denied that Sharma was visiting Haldia to address some grave problem.
“He is supposed to attend a programme at the Marine Engineering Research Institute and will come to Haldia as a part of his routine visit,” said Dubey.