The cargo ship at Dhamra port. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Sept 19: The Dhamra port in Bhadrak district has commenced its trail operation by receiving its first cargo ship.

“The first cargo ship of the port reached the port jetty on Saturday. The ship arrived from Gladstone in Australia, carrying 45,000 tonnes of coal for the Tata Steel plant at Jamshedpur. The cargo will be unloaded and transported to Haldia by barges,” said a Dhamra Port Corporation Limited (DPCL) official.

“The port will be commissioned in December, 2010, four months ahead of the schedule. The construction work is going on smoothly and almost all of it has been completed,” said officials.

DPCL chief executive officer Santosh Mohapatra, said: “Berthing of the cargo vessel and the unloading of cargo is part of trial operation of the port. The formal inauguration of the port with 62-km rail link from Dhamra to Bhadrak is expected to take place in December 2010.”

The coal-laden cargo ship had departed from Australia on September 1. The 189-metre long cargo vessel has a capacity of 46,000 dead weight tonnage (DWT). On Friday evening, the vessel arrived at the designated anchorage of Dhamra port. Around 9.30 am yesterday, it was piloted to the jetty for berthing by pilots of DPCL. The ship was expected to sail out today.

The DPCL is a 50:50 joint venture of Larsen & Toubro and Tata Steel. DPCL had signed concession agreement with Orissa government to build and operate a port north of the mouth of river Dhamra in Bhadrak district on a Boost (Build, Own, Operate, Share and Transfer) basis for a period of 34 years including a construction period of four years. The lease period may be renewed or extended for two additional terms of 10 years each on mutually agreed terms.

The state government has formulated a port policy in 2004 to develop ports through public-private partnership and so far identified 14 locations along the state’s 480km coast to build deep sea ports. These locations have been identified with technology from IIT, Chennai.