Shri Mansukh L.Mandaviya, Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Shipping (Independent Charge), Chemical & Fertilizers, Govt. of India, visited Chennai Port Trust on 14^th November 2019 and  inaugurated / dedicated the following infrastructure facilities at Chennai Port Trust for augmenting the Port cargo handling capacity :-

 

I.   DEDICATION OF OIL SPILL RECOVERY VESSEL, MARUDHAM

In order to augment the existing Oil Spill Response capability of the Chennai Port to deal with the Tier I Oil Spills as per the NOSDCP (National oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan), Oil spill recovery vessel MARUDHAM is deployed. The LOA of the vessel is 21.04 m and breadth 6.50 m with a draft of 1.70 m. MARUDHAM is equipped with Oil Spill Response equipment like Oil Booms, Skimmers and spray arms on both the sides for application of the Oil Spill Dispersant on the spills.   Besides the onboard storage tanks for storing oil collected from oil Spills, 4 numbers of flexible barges each of 10 KL Capacity are also available. The total cost of the vessel is Rupees 14 Crores.

II. DEPLOYMENT OF 60T BOLLARD PULL OCEAN GOING TUG AS EMERGENCY TOWING VESSEL (ETV)

 

In order to guard the Indian coastal assets and marine environment from natural disasters and incidents, Govt. of India, through DG Shipping, deploys ETV. In the past, ETV deployed in the west and east coast were not being used optimally and had remained idle for most of the period. To avoid such redundancy, Government of India decided that both Chennai Port Trust and Mumbai Port Trust where the ETVs are deployed on the East and West coast respectively can use the services of these vessels for harbour operation on day to day basis and shall  deploy these Tugs for ETV operation in short notice during Emergencies.  The DG Shipping shall bear the cost of chartering of the above ETVs upto a maximum amount of Rs.10 crores annually per port or as per actual, whichever is lower. Accordingly, ChPT awarded the contract to M/s.Ocean Sparkle Limited, Hyderabad for chartering 1 no. 60T Bollard Pull Ocean going Tug for a period of 5 years at a cost of Rs. 58 Crores.

 

3. INAUGURATION OF COASTAL BERTH

 

Govt. of India has decided to develop exclusive coastal Terminal to accommodate coastal vessels where the customs and Immigration formalities will not hinder the coastal shipping trade. Accordingly, Chennai Port constructed Coastal berth of length 260m, width 18 m and depth of (-) 9m CD  in front of the North Sheltering Arm (breakwater) at east of Bharathi Dock turning circle, with a backup area of about 16,000 sq.m. The capacity of the berth is 1 Million Ton per Annum and the contract value of the project is Rs.74 Cr. Govt of India sanctioned budgetary support of Rs.30 Crore under sagarmala.   Capital dredging alongside new Coastal berth for deepening with a quantity of 14,000 Cu.m, was carried out by DCI. The new berth will facilitate coastal cargo movement economically and efficiently.

 

 

iv.     dedication of Paved Storage Yards

Multipurpose storage yards with Cement Concrete pavement with adequate drainage facilities for stacking clean cargoes at ONB (Old Navy Barracks) yard and JD(East) backup area and JD(South) area, totaling about 11.32 ha. were developed for serving the JD(East) and other Inner harbour berths. The yard is also provided with power supply and illumination facilities. The yard will facilitate handling EXIM cargo including automobile, dry bulk / break bulk cargoes, project cargo etc., in a clean and dust free environment. The contract value of the project is Rs.37 Cr. Govt of India sanctioned budgetary support under sagarmala is Rs.27 Crore.

V.      commencing of Plantation UNDER GREEN PORT INITIATIVES

In order to augment the Green belt of Chennai Port Trust, order has been placed for plantation of 2,115 nos of trees of CONOCORPUS variety of trees. These grown up trees of 6 feet height will be planted at a regular interval of 3.0mtrs at cargo stacking areas of ONB yard, Marshalling yard road and approach roads of the southern part of Chennai Port. The contact value of the work is Rs.21.0 lakhs. Plantation period is 3 months and maintenance period is 6 months.

VI.     Implementation of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) based Online Harbour Entry Permit System (HEPs)

 

Online Harbour Entry Permit System (HEPS) is an advanced system that allows the port users to apply for harbour entry permit of Chennai port through internet without the need for visiting pass section every time. With the induction of this system, users are given a separate log in id, password and a digital virtual wallet that can be recharged using online payment gateway and utilized for every transaction. Benefits to the trade includes reduced waiting time in Queues at the counters, procedures, delays in approvals and time lags due to manual verification at the gates. Also the system is expected to improve the processing time for issuance of the passes, congestion free port entry/exit at gates and reduced dwell time of the trucks. This Online HEPS has got all the necessary provisions for the security personnel at the gates to handle any scenario 24*7.

VII.    COMMISIONING OF INTEGRATED CCTV CONTROL SYSTEM

CCTVs were installed and commissioned in Chennai Port in the year 2006, first among all Major Ports. Chennai Port Trust is having CCTV control systems monitored at different locations.  As per the IB recommendations, all the CCTV control systems are integrated at one place viz., in the Office of the Commandant, CISF at Diamond Jubilee Building. The total estimated cost of this Project is Rs.1.5 crores approximately.  About 82 cameras of various types viz., Fixed, PTZ, IR and 47 Nos. of television monitors of HD quality of size 23” have been installed. The HP Server connected to this system is having the facility of 90 days recording footage capacity.

 

VIII) LAUNCHING OF COMPREHENSIVE CARDIAC & DIABETIC SCREENING AND EVALUATION FOR EMPLOYEES

 

              Medical department of Chennai Port Trust has commenced a continuous programme to  create awareness of modifiable high risk factor, prevention and treatment of heart attacks, causes, symptoms, prevention and management of heart attacks, conducting preliminary investigations including ECG, Blood glucose monitoring, Blood pressure reading, Body Mass Index evaluation  and if necessary subject them to further investigations like Echocardiogram, Treadmill Test, Angiogram for  potentially at risk employees. This programme is launched by Hon’ble Minister.

 

 

IX)    After these inaugurations, Hon’ble Minister held a review meeting with all stakeholders such as shipping agents, stevedores, CONCOR, HPCL, CPCL etc. and enquired into the major issues.  He promised to extend his co-operation for development of Chennai Port Trust.  The Minister also visited Passenger Cruise terminal and enquired the facility available.

 

 

X)     Thereafter he also reviewed the Port Performance with Chairman, Dy.Chairman, CVO and all HoDs and enquired about the traffic growth, developmental plans etc. according to a press release issued by the Secretary, Port of Chennai.

 

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