The Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port (SMP), Kolkata, today announced that for the first time in its history a large capesize vessel arrived at Sagar Anchorage which is 80 miles away from SMP and 25 miles from the Haldia Dock Complex (HDC).
The port spokesperson shared that ‘M.V. Lake D’, one of the largest cape vessels of its kind with 66,000 MT of steam coal cargo bound for Nepal, anchored at Sagar for the first time making SMP Port privileged to handle such a bulk carrier. The vessel sailed from Abbot Point, Australia on 10 May and en route took fuel at Singapore.
Thereafter, discharging about 95,810 MT of cargo at Vishakhapatnam, the vessel sailed for Sagar anchorage. The port authorities felt, calling of such a cape vessel at Sagar anchorage at 9.2 meter draft is a laudable landmark in the history of SMP despite its natural constraint being saddled with the responsibility of maintaining one of the longest and most unpredictable navigational channels in the world, said Vinit Kumar, chairman, SMP, Kolkata.
The entire cargo unloading started with two floating cranes and transported through barges and subsequently handled at the Haldia Floating Terminal (HFTPL), outside the lock gate. SMP Kolkata is having constraints of the draft in the channel and lock gate operation in the docks.
Vinit Kumar stated that the arrival of ‘M.V. Lake D’ is significant also for carrying 66,000 MT of cargo which otherwise would have been carried in 2-3 separate vessels. Alternatively, this quantity could have been carried in one vessel which would have had to discharge half cargo at Vizag Port and carry the remainder to SMP. However, that would have resulted in a higher cost for trade in terms of railway freight as freight from Vizag to Raxaul is significantly more than from Haldia/Kolkata.