Seaports In India

Ennore Port

At the shore of Coromandel Coast to the north of Chennai port at a distance of 24 km is the Ennore Port and is ranked the 12th major port of India. It is the first public company port of India. The 68 percent of the profit is shared by the Centre and the remaining 32 percent is shared by the Chennai Port Trust. The amount of INR 26,000 million has been enticed from various private moguls. It has around 86 employees serving it and has been named as the India’s first corporatized port. It is also termed as the Asia’s energy port.  Foreseen as the satellite port, this port has involved itself in improving the environmental conditions of Chennai Port. It has the ability to hold wide range of products. The capacity of the quay is to handle upto 13.5 million tonnes and in the year 2010-11 it has handled a total 11.01 million tonnes and further has increased by 2.86 % in the last year.

History

The Ennore Port perceived as the satellite port for the Chennai Port. It was originally designed to handle thermal coal that is required for the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) and for this a land of 2000 acres was allocated. With the Government of Tamil Nadu planning to set up 1880 mW LNG power project with some of the private associations has also decided to expand the port.They have been planning to build a large petrochemical park and also a naphtha cracker plant.This port was specially made after order by the PM of India on 1st Feb 2001. This port was assigned to the Companies Act and thus kept it outside from the scope of Tariff Authority for Major Ports thas has 11 of the 12 ports that have been retained by the Government of India. This port has been associated with the Indian Ports Act,1908 in March 1999 and after its association with the Companies Act, 1956 in October 1999 it was named as Ennore Port Limited. The first commercial activity began on 22nd June 2001 by the activity of unloading the thermal coal from the Handymax geared vessels. Utilizing the self-unloading and gearless vessel facility the full-fledged activity on this port began from December 2002.

For the enhancement of the port it was organized in different phases, First phase began with acquiring a land of 440 hectares for the construction of a coal jetty, a quay and for building an entrance channel for the rummaging activities. The major construction was to build two wharfs to hold the coal vessels with the capacity of 65000 DWT, a rummaging for the approaching channel and the harbour basin. Another proposal was to build two breakwaters that are 4km in the north and 1km in the south that are close to NCTPS and the Ennore Creek.

Location

This port has the location on the northeastern corner of Tamil Nadu and on a coastal plain because of which it is named as the Eastern Coastal Palin. Situated on the East coast of Indian peninsula called as Coromandel coast and in the Bay of Bengal is located on the north about 2.6km of the Ennore creek. The weather experience on the port ranges from 38–42°C in summer to a minimum of 18–20°C in winter since it is on the thermal equator zone. This area experiences hot and humid weather conditions throughout the year. Tropically it experiences wet and dry climate.The area experiences rains due to the northeast monsoon winds in the months of September to December.The area also experiences occasional cyclones. The rainfall is approximately around 1400 mm. The dominant winds in the area are during the months of April to October and for the remaining part of the year from the northeasterly winds.This port is on the Seismic Zone III that experiences the risks of earthquakes.The port is demarked with the Ennore creek in the south thus separating it from the city of Ennore.Coastal line has changed around this area and thus has closed the cove of the mouth with the sand bars.

Connectivity

Road link

The National Highway Authority is into plans of constructing a road that is 30.1 km or 18.7 miles long that will connect Chennai and Ennore port. The State Government of Tamil Nadu declared this project in 1998 and named this project as Ennore-Manali Road Improvement Project which was later renamed as Chennai-Ennore Port Road Connectivity project. The cost of the project has been estimated around INR 6000 million after escalating four times.This project will help the movement of trucks from Chennai port in the North of China. The port has the capability of handling about 5000 containers in a day. The trucks have to enroute from Ennore-Manali road. The tenders for the project are still on since due to numerous reasons the earlier tenders had to be cancelled.

It will take around two years to complete this project and will be embarked in January 2011.

There has been plan to build a 21.1 km long highway connecting Ennore with Thacchur. This project will cost around INR 3740 million. This will connect the northern gate of Ennore port to Panchetti near Thatchur with NH 5. This highway will also connect the nine village on its enroute named Kattupalli, Ariyanvoyal, Nallur, Vellampakkam and Vannivakkam. Tiruvottiyur-Ponneri-Panchetti with having a linking road to the other villages named Kollatur, Nandiambakkam and Vallur.

Rail link

A rail project costing around INR 516 million has been planned to connect from coal and iron ore stackyards with Athipattu station on the Chennai to Vijayawada mainline. This new line has been into operation since November 2010.

Commodities Handled

The commodities handled at the port are Iron Ore, Coal etc

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