Posted on August 15, 2017
The much-awaited mechanical dredging of the basin and channel of the Azhikkal port got under way here on Sunday, with Ports Minister Kadannappally Ramachandran flagging off the operation of CSD Chandragiri, the cutter-suction dredger, that had docked at the port for the past several months.
The dredging operation begins nearly 22 months after the dredger was brought here with much fanfare, to increase the depth of the channel of the port. The Ports Department had brought it here in October 2015, spending Rs. 19 crore.
Sunday’s event ended the delay in the operation that the Ports Department officials attributed to ‘technical issues.’
Committed
The Minister said in his address at the function that the State government was committed to promoting shipping services, especially coastal shipping services and cargo movement via sea, as the movement of cargo by road and train had become difficult. The Minister also said the shipping services from Azhikkal to Lakshwadweep would begin after the dredging works were over.
He also announced plans to have cargo shipping service from Gujarat and Maharashtra. The much-advertised development of the port has been hit by the lack of periodical dredging of the basin and the channel. The average depth now is 3.5 metres. The cutter-suction dredger can remove 2,500 to 3,000 cubic metres of sediment a day, according to Ports officials. M. Sudheer Kumar, Senior Ports Conservator of the Azhikkal port, said the dredging would increase the depth to six metres. It would pave the way for the start of the shipping services at Azhikkal in the coming shipping season itself. Once the dredging was completed, the port would be a major centre of cargo movement to Lakshadweep and coastal shipping, he said.
Source: THE HINDU
