Paradip, Aug. 5: The Paradip Port Trust (PPT) has initiated the process to set up Rs 430-crore worth container terminal.

“The project is scheduled to commence within two months. Tender bidding process is over. As United Liner Agency, Mumbai-based farm, is the single bidder, we have sought from approval from the higher-ups for award of the contract, so that the construction could resume on time by September. The scheduled deadline for completion of the project is 2017,” said a port official.

It will be a multipurpose berth with facilities put in place for the containerised cargo handling to augment the port’s annual revenue dividends. The terminal will have the set-up to accommodate 1,25,000 dead weight tonnage sized vessels. The containerised cargo handling would provide a boost to the port traffic, said PPT traffic manager Kishore Kumar Sahu.

The port is handling mainly bulk cargos such as mineral ores and coal. Though the global demand is now on containerised cargo, the port has limited facility for container cargo handling. Hardly 2 to 3 per cent of the port’s Rs 1,000-crore worth revenue is accrued from container cargo, he said.

Exporters from the state dealing with garments, textiles, cement, rice, engineering goods and machinery, paper, granite, steel scrap and seafood exports would reap significant benefits through containerised cargo handling in the port. The PPT, which handles bulk cargoes in the form of mineral ores, is bereft of containerised cargo handling set-up.

Exporters from Odisha are being forced to divert their containerised cargoes to Haldia and Visakhapatnam ports as the PPT is not equipped to handle such goods and commodities. Containerised cargo berth is a positive development and the PPT has taken steps to install the set-up, said PPT trustee member Pravat Kumar Samataray.

“While Odisha accounts for export of 23,000 tonnes of marine products annually, Paradip port does not figure in the export route. The seafood is trans-shipped in refrigerated containers, for which the port lacks the facility. While 70 per cent of these containers were routed through Visakhapatnam, the rest was sent via Kolkata port,” said Gorachand Mohanty, president of the Seafood Exporters’ Association of India (Odisha chapter).