A study on siltation of shipping channels for implementation of the nautical depth concept at Kochi port has got under way here. The 18-month study will reveal whether the port authority here can reduce the current dredging quantum to achieve the desired results.
A senior Port Trust official said on Monday that the study, which would cost approximately Rs. 7 crore, was being funded by the Union government through grants. The study could result in reducing maintenance dredging cost by about 30 per cent.
The basic concept is that unlike other major ports which have hard bottom shipping channels, Kochi has soft bottom channels with loose mud or sand. The study will reveal whether the port requires to dredge 10 per cent more than the actual depth of the vessel as it is done now to achieve clear passage without hitting the bottom.
The nautical depth study is part of efforts to reduce the cost of maintenance dredging, which is eating into the port authority’s financial resources.
The Cochin Port Trust spent Rs. 140 crore in maintenance dredging during the last financial year, substantially higher spending when compared to the Rs. 122 crore spent for the same purpose during 2013-14.
Sources said the port authority had spent over Rs. 400 crore in maintenance dredging since the International Container Transshipment Terminal was inaugurated in February 2011.
With a financial crisis on its hands, the port authority submitted a proposal in February this year to the Union Shipping Ministry requesting reimbursement of a sum of Rs. 168 crore, the amount being the revenue loss suffered by the port on account of concessions extended to mainline vessels calling at the ICTT and deficit in revenue from the container terminal against the maintenance dredging cost incurred solely for the project between 2010-11 and 2014-15.
