Pipavav port drafts Rs 200-cr jetty proposals which will reduce mishaps while handling crude.

Gujarat Pipavav Port Limited, India’s first private port, is setting up two jetties at the cost of about Rs 200 crore to handle crude oil.

"We have already floated tenders for the construction of these jetties and are in the process of shortlisting parties," says Nikhil Gandhi, managing director, GPPL. Companies who have bid for the construction work include L&T, Afcons, Thafalgar House and Simplex. Work on these dedicated full-fledged shore-based jetties is expected to commence in August this year and get completed in 18 months’ time.

Mr Gandhi said the jetties would each have a full length of 300 metres and will be built at Shiyalbet Island, located 1.5 km off the main port at Pipavav.

"The first study by DHV-Holland had suggested that the site off Shiyalbet is ideally suited for handling liquid cargo. It has a natural draft of 20 metres within 500 metres from the land during low tiles, which increases to 24 metres during the high-tide period. With such a draft, we can handle VLCCs of 1.5-2 lakh tonne capacity," Mr Gandhi said.

About 36 acres of land has been reserved for the purpose and, liquid cargo would be transported to the mainland port through a 1.5-km pipeline. "The Gujarat Pollution Control Board and, both the state environment department and the Union environment ministry have issued a no-objection certificate to Pipavav port for handling liquid cargo," said a source.

About the advantages of a direct-berthing port, Mr. Gandhi said compared to the single buoy mooring (SBM) facility, direct-berthing facilities would reduce the risk of accidents or oil spill during the unloading of liquid cargo.

GPPL is also believed to be in talks with Indian Oil Corporation for the latter’s using of the facility for its Allahabad refinery, which is 1,100 km away from Pipavav.

IOC had in the past announced plans to set up a crude handling facility for its 13 MT Koyali refinery, situated 305 km away from Pipavav. The corporation had also indicated that it would be setting up crude handling facilities for its other refineries on the western coast. IOC is believed to have acquired 70 acres of land at Pipavav for building tank farms for this purpose.

According to sources, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited may also utilise the facility for its 6-MT Allahabad refinery, to be built during Tenth Plan period.

"Being close to the North and Central refineries, we hope to handle about 25 MT of liquid cargo and 1 lakh tonne of LPG by the year 2003," Mr Gandhi said.

Pipavav has received four parcels of LPG for Bharat-Shell. "Generally, the largest LPG vessel is of 5,000 tonnes, and, requires about 7-8 metres of draft. Pipavav has so far handled 2,000-tonne LPG vessels at its shores and, with a 12-metre draft and a proper

jetty configuration, it is capable of handling bigger LPG vessels," Mr Gandhi said.

"At present, there are four pipelines from the jetty to the Bharat-Shell tank farms of 3,300 tonne (1100x3) capacity, which are situated 3.5 km from the shore.

Dredging work at the LPG jetty is being carried out at a cost of Rs 5 crore and all our jetties would then have a draft of 13.5 metres. Our jetty can accommodate 24 pipelines," he added.

Setting up of liquid cargo jetties may help GPPL break even faster than expected, as ports survive mainly on liquid cargo. As per the government policy, major public sector oil undertakings IOC, GAIL, HWL and BWL use only major ports such as Vizag, Mumbai or Kandla for liquid cargo, as minor ports did not have liquid handling facility. This saw many a small port recording a sluggish growth. With the entry of private sector, an increasing number of ports are going in for liquid handling facilities for survival and profitability.

At present, Pipavav handles export of cement, clinker, steel and oil cakes and import of urea, fertilisers, coal, LPG and containers. GPPL has already spent Rs 400 crore on its facilities.