West Quay-6 berth developed under BOT basis at Visakhapatnam Port by WQ Multiport Private Ltd (WQMPL) will be operational by February 15 with the arrival of India’s largest level-luffing cranes from China on Tuesday.
Two cranes each with capacity of lifting 160 tonne with a discharge capacity of 20,000 tonne per day were brought here from Dalian from DHHI, the manufacturer at a cost of Rs.80 crore by m.v. Zhi Xian 2. Orissa Stevedores Ltd is the steamer and custom house agent for the vessel.
The cranes will have mechanised hoppers to minimise pollution with dust separation system. The roll off operation will take four days. The cranes are expected to be commissioned in three weeks. The berth has been developed by ALBA, a joint venture of ABG Ports Ltd and Louis Dreyfus Armateurs SAS (LDA) of France with a total investment of Rs. 230 crore.
CEO of WQMPL, the special purpose vehicle, Gurpreet Malhi told The Hindu that they would handle 2.5 million tonnes in first year of operation and achieve full capacity of six million tonnes in the fourth year.
