Calcutta Port Trust chairman A.K. Chanda with BNCCI president Nayantara Pal Choudhury in Calcutta on Friday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury

Calcutta, Aug. 11: Faced with the imminent loss of a sizeable volume of business, Calcutta Port Trust (CPT) is banking on bulk cargo to fill up its coffers.

The port is building two additional berths and two more jetties at Haldia with a capacity to handle 7 million tonnes cargo annually.

Two of the berths will begin operations in 2007 while the jetties will be put to use in early 2008.

The development underlines CPT’s eagerness to focus more on bulk and container traffic.

Crude movement accounts for close to one-third of CPT’s business as Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) uses the port to feed a number of its eastern region refineries, especially Haldia. However, IOC will soon commission a pipeline connecting Paradip and Haldia, thereby bypassing the facility of CPT.

Port chairman A.K. Chanda said there would be a short-term blip in revenue but hoped the rapid growth in other areas would bridge the gap. To harness the potential of non-oil business, the port is also developing a cargo handling facility at Diamond Harbour. Earlier, the port considered building two jetties there. However, the initial feedback has indicated demand for one more jetty.

A feasibility study has been undertaken to ascertain financial viability of the same.

“The Central Electricity Authority has indicated that about 4 million tonnes of coal can be handled here,” Chanda said while speaking at an interactive session with the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Inland waterways

CPT and Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) are mulling a three-way joint venture with a private developer to build inland waterways terminals (IWT) at Haldia and Calcutta.