The Hindu Business Line : Oil jetty at Paradip port commissioned

PARADIP port's oil jetty was commissioned on Tuesday with the operation of "Suvarna Swarajya", a 35,000-dwt product tanker belonging to the Shipping Corporation of India but on a charter hire to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). The vessel discharged 4,500 tonnes of superior kerosene oil at the jetty.

With the commissioning of the jetty, the port's POL throughput is set to jump significantly. In 2004-05, the throughput was 8.39 lakh tonnes, which is estimated to double to more than 1.5 mt in the current fiscal (2005-06).

Built at a cost of Rs 74 crore, the 6-mtpa capacity jetty has been lying idle for the past couple of years for a variety of reasons. The fire fighting equipment was not in place and so the clearance of the Chief Controller of Explosives was not available. The CCOE clearance has since been obtained for handling both Class A and Class B petroleum products.

Then there was the problem of mechanical gangway, which had to be installed by the port authorities to facilitate movement of personnel to and from the vessel. Initially the gangway was not there. The loading arm, to be installed by IOC, is not yet ready. However, it is felt that the arm will not be needed till the throughput reaches at least the three-million-tonne level. Right now the operation could be undertaken with flexible hoses.

IOC too has invested more than Rs 50 crore on laying a 10-km long pipeline between the jetty and its terminal and other facilities. However, the pipeline network is to be used also by other public sector oil companies such as Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation having storage facilities near the port, according to port sources.

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