Krishnapatnam Port now rightfully claims as the deepest draft port in India, as it has started accepting vessels with maximum permissible draft of 18 meters. In such a short span of time, no other ports in India have been able to achieve such a remarkable depth.
On 17th July 2008 when the port was dedicated to the nation, the maximum available draft alongside the berths was mere 10.5 meters.
Today, it can accept the largest vessels that visit Indian coast with a DWT of 180,000 MTs. Krishnapatnam Port is not only an asset to the nation but is also an infrastructural example for other ports to follow. The port’s container operations that commenced just 4 months back, has now hadled its first set of laden containers containing cotton bales on January 29, 2012. A total of 1,456 TEUs were exchanged with vessel MV. Maersk Dalton that headed to mainland Chinese ports. With this, Krishnapatnam Port Container Terminal has handled a total of 24,000 TEUs and 10 container vessels. The containers were brought to the port in 124 rakes.
The unloading of these containers from the rakes are done by modern equipment owned completely by the port. Its efficiency has clocked a record time of just 9 minutes to unload 90 containers from CONCOR train no. ‐ TNPK1126 on November 20, 2011. The total time taken from the arrival of the rake to its departure was only 27 minutes. This is a record in itself which the port assures to continue for its other cargoes. It is evident when recently on January 9, 2012; the port loaded 3,960.38 MTs of steam coal in 59 wagons for M/s. Anand Transport Pvt. Ltd. in just 30 minutes creating an internal record in operational management.
Krishnapatnam Port is in its second stage of growth process and is committed in building a landmark for the Indian maritime trade. It is going that extra depth to soar the Indian flag in the global maritime trade.
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Dredging Today Staff, February 14, 2012; Image: krishnapatnamport