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Visakhapatnam Port
One of the main ports in India is the Visakhapatnam port. It is a major port situated on the eastern coastline. The port lies at 17041' North and longitude of 83017’ East. It is located at GMT + 5:30 time zone. There are three harbors at the Visakhapatnam port. These are Outer and inner harbor and the fishing harbor. The outer harbor is having six berths and water spread of two hundred hectares. The water spread of the inner harbor is one hundred hectares and it has eighteen berths.
The outer harbor is conferred with naturally deep water basins. It can accommodate up to 150,000 DWT vessels & draft up to seventeen meters. At the inner harbor vessels up to two hundred and thirty meters LOA can be accommodated & draft up to eleven meters.
History
Visakhapatnam is among the primordial port cities. Since ancient times, it is having trade relations with Rome and Middle East.At that time ships used to be moored at open roads and small Masula boats were used to transport the cargo to the ships from Vishakhapatnam shore, in order to load the ships. In the ancient writings of Sri BheemeswaraSwamy temple (1068 AD),located at east Godavari district in the Andhra Pradesh state, an allusion of a Vizagapatam merchant is mentioned.The town of Visakhapatnam was a reinvigorated merchandized town which was administered by an association or guild.In the year 1682 one of the branches of the East India Company, used the town as its settlement.Goods worth INR 8,300,000 were transferred through Vizagapatam or Bhimunipatnam in the year 1882-83. The main products which were merchandised included Muslin cloth which was manufactured at Uppada presently East Godavari District, jiggery, skins and hides, Manganeseore exported to USA and UK, oilseeds, indigo and jute etc. Trade relations were very extensive with Burma. The port was regularly visited by the vessels of British India Steam Navigation Company.
In the year 1858, after the British rule arrived in India, more emphasis was laid on requirement of a port in this part of India. After the World War I (1914-1918) Col.H.Cartwright Reid of British Admiralty, gave a proposal for constructing a harbor at Visakhapatnam, at the opening of Meghadrigeddariver and the proposal received Government’s approval.
The Island Break-water has been an exclusive feature of the harbor. This was constricted by wrecking two old ships named JANUS and WELLESDON. This way a skeleton was formed which was surrounded by a rubble mound. It could be done by efforts made by two engineers Mr.D.B.Rattenberry and Mr.W.C.Ash. There is one land locked Inner Harbour, which was being constructed between 1927-1933 by Bengal Nagpur Railway with the purpose of providing sea outlet for Manganese ore of the Central Provinces currently known as Madhya Pradesh.
There was a passenger vessel called S.S.JALADURGA of the Scindia Steam Navigation Co. through which the port was open to the traffic of the ocean on October 7, in the year 1933.Formally His Excellency Lord Willingdonthe then Viceroy and Governor General of India inaugurated the port on December 19th, 1933.
During the 1st year of maneuver, around 1.3 lac tons of traffic was handled at the port. 1.2 lakh tons included the exports and the imports included 01 lakh tons. Manganese ore and ground nuts were mainly exported. Flour, rice, tiles and various consumer gods were included in the imports. The bullock carts were used to transport the cargo. The port had a great military importance during the World War II from 1939 to 1942.The port undergone a planned development after the world war ended and India received Independence. The infrastructure of the port was developed and government has made remarkable investments for doing so. The small port with three berths and annual traffic of 1.3 lac tons was converted into a leading port with twenty four berths and annual traffic of sixty five million tons.
Location
The location of the port provides it safety from Cyclones which are regularly striking the east coast. Towards the North entrance of the channel Dolphin’s nose Hill is present, which is a high peninsula that protects the port from the cyclone.
Construction
281.8 million cu.ft. Of land and soft material was dredged in order to construct the harbor. The harbor consist of inner channel,outer channel, island breakwater, turning basin,sand trap, quay wall of 1600 ft (three berths), 3 storage sheds, 2 transit sheds, open storage area, 3 NG Locos, 4 electric quay cranes, 1weigh bridge,15 sq. miles of acquired land, 4railway track and other facilities like,dredgers,graving dock, tugs, power house,lighters, work shop,water supply,roads,drains,buildings etc.Around Rs 378 lakh were spent in construction of the port.
Facilities
Harbour Facilities
Feature | Inner Harbour | Outer Harbour |
Water Spread (Hectares) | 100 | 200 |
Berths | 18 | 6 |
Max.Draft(Mtrs.) | 11 | 17 |
Max. length (Mtrs.) | PANAMAX | 280 |
Max. Beam (Mtrs.) | 32.5 | 48 |
Berthing Facility
INNER HARBOR NORTHERN ARM - EAST SIDE | ||||
Quay Berths | Berth length (Mtrs) | Permissible beam (Mtrs) | Permissible draft (Mtrs) | Crane deployment |
East Quay-1 | 167.64 | 32.5 | 10.06 | 4 Nos. 15T. wharf Cranes |
East Quay-2 | 167.64 | 32.5 | 10.06 | 4 Nos. 10T. wharf Cranes |
East Quay-3 | 167.64 | 32.5 | 10.06 | 4 Nos. 10T. wharf Cranes |
East Quay-4 | 231 | 32.5 | 10.06 | 4 Nos. 15T. wharf Cranes |
East Quay-5 | 167.64 | 32.5 | 11 | 4 Nos. 15T. wharf Cranes |
East Quay-6 | 182.9 | 32.5 | 10.06 | 3 Nos. 10T. wharf Cranes |
East Quay-7 | 255 | 32.5 | 11 | 4 Nos. 20T. wharf Cranes |
* East Quay-8 | 255 | 32.5 | 11 | 3 Nos. 104T. Harbour mobile cranes of B.O.T. Operator |
* East Quay-9 | 255 | 32.5 | 11 | -- |
INNER HARBOUR NORTHERN ARM - WEST SIDE | ||
Quay Berths | Berth length (Mtrs) | Permissible draft # (Mtrs) |
West Quay-1 | 212 | 11 |
West Quay-2 | 226.7 | 11 |
West Quay-3 | 201.12 | 11 |
West Quay-4 | 243 | 11 |
West Quay-5 | 241.7 | 11 |
RE WQ-1 | 170 | 8 |
INNER HARBOUR NORTH WESTERN ARM | ||||
Quay Berths | Berth length (Mtrs) | Permissible draft # (Mtrs) | ||
Fertiliser berth | 173.13 | 10.06 | ||
Oil Refinery Berth-1@ | 183 | 10.06 | ||
Oil Refinery Berth-2@ | 183 | 9.75 | ||
@ Subject to a max. 195 Mts. at one of the two berths | ||||
# Permissible draft of vessels is subject to availability of tide - details given under harbour facilities |
OUTER HARBOUR | |||
Berth | Berth length (Mtrs) | Permissible beam (Mtrs) | Permissible draft # (Mtrs) |
Ore Berth-1 | 270 | 48 | 16.50 on rising tide of 0.3 Mtrs. |
Ore Berth-2 | 270 | 48 | 16.5 |
Oil Mooring | 250 | 48 | 15 |
General Cargo Berth | 356 | 42 | 14.5 0 on rising tide of 0.5 Mtrs. |
Offshore Tanker Terminal | 408 | 48 | 17.00 on rising tide of 0.5 Mtrs. |
L.P.G. | 370.92 | 42 | 14 |
CONTAINER TERMINAL** | 451 | 42 | 14.5 |
** Operated byM/s. Visakha Container Terminal Pvt. Ltd. |
Navigational Facilities
INNER HARBOR (In Mtrs) | ||||
Type | LOA | BEAM | DRAFT | TIDE |
Day light | Panamax Vessels | 32.5 | 10.3 | 0.85 |
- arrivals / Departures | ||||
210 | 32.5 | 10.5 | 1.08 | |
195 | 32.26 | 10.7 | 1.11 | |
Night Restrictions | ||||
Night - Arrival | 195 | 32.26 | 9.90 | On rising tide |
Night - Departures | 195 | 32.26 | 10.7 | 1.11 |
OUTER HARBOR | ||||
For Arrivals (In Mtrs) | ||||
Permitted Dimensions as per berths | LOA | BEAM | DRAFT | TIDE |
OSTT | 280 | 48 | 17 | 0.5 |
OB-I & OB-II | 270 | 48 | 16.5 | 0.3 |
MPB ( VCTPL ) | 280 | 42 | 14.5 | -- |
GCB for 1,00,000 DWT only | -- | -- | 14.5 | 0.5 |
NOM | 250 | 48 | 15 | -- |
LPG | 220 | 42 | 13 | -- |
Channel Berth for 10,000 DWT | 150 | 18.75 | 8.5 | -- |
Fishing Harbour | 70 | 14 | 5.5 | 0.7 |
Storage Facilities
S.No. | Type of Storage | Port | Other agencies |
1 | Covered storage | ||
a)transit sheds | 20,494 m2 | -- | |
b)storage sheds | 31,422 m2 | 699,954 tonnes | |
c)ware houses | 10,482 m2 | 66,230 tonnes | |
d)silos | -- | -- | |
2 | Open area | 1,553,168 m2 | 75,134 + 368,668 m2 |
3 | Containers | ||
a)Open | -- | 4,000 TEUs + 1,500 ground slots | |
b)Covered | -- | 100-125 TEUs | |
4 | Liquid storage | 404,757 tonnes | |
a)Crude oil | -- | 639,496 tonnes+ 105,650 KL | |
b)Products | -- | 97,500 tonnes + 72,748 KL | |
c)Chemicals | -- | 9,000 tonnes (spheres) + 60,000 tonnes (cavern) | |
d)L.P.Gas | -- |
Commodities Handled
Iron Ore And Pellets
Receiving system and shipping system is the part of the ore handling complex which is involved in operation of the Mechanical ore handling plant. Tippling of the ore is done which is received by wagons and it is then carried for stacking to the stacker. The ore enters into the receiving system which contains three wagons tipplers. One is a twin tippler having 2700 TPH cap, another tippler has 3000 TPH cap. From the stack the cargo is regained by the shipping system and is transported to the ship loader from where it is loaded to the hatches of the ship. The system included three bucket wheel reclaimers having a capacity of 4000 tonnes per hour, a surgebin of 2000 tonnes capacitya long overhead conveyor system (4.8 kilometers – one way), and a ship loader having a capacity to load iron ore at eight thousandtonneseach hour. The ship loader moves on rails and is able to traverse a 2100 turn and can also slope deep into the ship’s hatch.
The seven loading conveyors are the overhead conveyers that run around ten to twelve meters above the ground level. The pre-cast RCC frames founded on piles are used to support the conveyors. At about 20.0 m c/c, a pre-cast frames are placed. One meter wide walkway is kept alongside the conveyor to facilitate the maintenance. The conveyor can run to a speed of 210 meters per minute.
Coking Coal Facilities
There is a deep draft berth located in the outer harbor known which is a general-cum-Bulk cargo berth, having 356 meters of quay length. This berth is used to conduct the vessels with draft upto14.5m. Imported coking coal is handled over here. The berth can manage 100, 00 DWT vessels, two floating cranes called Bulk Express which is capable of four grabs–two for loading &other two for unloading; 7.4 cu.m. to 22.6 cu.m. and Ravi B with grab capacity of 11.5 cu.m.
The inner harbor is having five multipurpose berths which are able to accommodate vessels having 11.0 m draft and two multipurpose B.O.T berths which are controlled by the Vizag Seaport Pvt. Ltd. These berths are efficient with automated handling facilities.
Other Conveniences Include
- Two Nos. Harbour Mobile cranes at WQ berths
- Exposed area at West quay berths and East yard dumps - 1.7lakh square meter and 4 LT capacity
- Open region at GCB with 1.5 LT capacities. Sidings with loading amenities into wagons &properlylinked railway lines to GCB & inner harbour
Alumina
The dedicated berth (WQ-5) is having fully automated facility for Alumina loading. The berth has a length of 241 meters and the draft is permissible up to eleven meters. The berth also includes the facilities like three silos, each having capacity of 25000 tons; etc.
POL
A deep draft Oil Tanker Terminal used for the purpose of berthing the tankers having a size of 150,000 DWT and draft upto seventeen meters. Thereare 3 unloading arms at the terminal providing the facility of direct discharge from berth to the refinery tanks at the rate of 5500 tonnes/hr via pipelines.
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