In 1690 the
British anchored for the first time in the reach
of the Hoogly River near the present day
Calcutta. The city subsequently went on to
become the premier port in British India.
The port was
commissioned on 17 October 1870 under the
Calcutta Port Act. By then the Calcutta jetties
were fully operational. In 1886 a separate oil
wharf was setup at Baj Baj. The impound dock at
Kidderpore (KPD) became operational in 1893. In
1925 four riverside jetties and a coaling jetty
were constructed at Garden reach. In 1928 the
second dock system, King George's Dock now known
as Netaji Subhash Dock (KPD) came up in the same
area.
The Haldia Docking
Complex (HDC), deep water third dock system was
commissioned, 104 km downstream of Calcutta. It
was the first comprehensive port project in
India, providing composite cargo handling
facilities and lending support to the growth of
port oriented industry.
The Calcutta dock
system comprises KPD, NSD and Baj Baj. There are
18 & 9 operational berths at KPD & NSD
respectively. Baj Baj has 6 wharves for liquid
bulk. There are 10 berths and 2 oil jetties at
HDC. Haldia (HDC) Sagar (SAC) and Diamond Heart
provide excellent loading/unloading facilities.
These facilities have been developed on a
stretch of over 150 Km. Of the river
The
Calcutta Dock System is situated on the left bank of the river
Hoogly, 130 Km above the enterance to the river from the
estuary off Sagar island in the Bay of Bengal.
Drafts
on the river Hoogly depend on the fluctuating tide and
conditions of the governing bars.
The maximum permissible drafts at the respective periods are as
follows :
A
modern Dock System for handling large vessel with optimum
economy. The Dock Complex is located on the west bank of the
river Hoogly, 63 miles from the pilotage station at Sandheads
in the Bay of Bengal. Haldia has a nominal ship waiting period
and a low turn round time for vessels. The port has been on a
forefront of privatisation. Two of its berths have been leased
to leading enterprises and a large number of leading
organisations are keenly interested in leasing facilities as
well as lesing land for seting up port facilities.
The
Dock System has two riverine oil jeties and eight berths
inside an inpounded dock.
The berth handles
thermal coal, coking coal, POL Products, various dry bulk
cargo etc. on vessels upto 232 m. LOA. The berth can handle
a minimum of 1.8 million tons per annum.
The berth handles
coking coal, fertiliser raw materials, etc. on vessels upto
198 m. LOA. The berth can handle a minimum of 1.68 million
tons per annum.
These two berths
handle various non hazardous liquid bulk, general and dry
bulk cargo on vessels upto 213 m. LOA. These two berths
together can handle a minimum of 0.4 million tons per
annum.
The port has a fleet of cargo handling equipments
for serving port users. Such equipments include container
cranes, mobile cranes, forklifts, tractor trainers, pay
loaders, buldozers, etc. The port's fleet of equipments
freely supplimented by those of private operates as
required.
2.
Berth No.3 and 4 are fully mechanised for
unloading of coal from wagons and for ship loading.
3.
Berth No.5 has grab fitted gantry cranes and
conveyor systems for bulk unloading.
4.
Berth No. 6 & 7 have pipeline connections for
discharge of liquid cargo.
The port operates
its own railway system at Haldia. It has two wagon
interchange yards connected to the indian Railways. The
port owns a fleet of locomotives for movement of wagons
over its own railway system as also for serving siding
holders. There are also common user sidings available. The
port railway system presently handles about 7 million tons
of traffic including coal, coking coal, POL, containers
etc.
2.
Haldia is connected
to the National Highway network by NH-41.
3.
Directly connected
to the Indian Railway System by broad guage.
General Section
