Chennai Port - Port Layout and Infrastructure

Port Layout and Infrastructure

Chennai port was the second smallest in the country measured by surface area, encompassing only 274 hectares. Chennai port area is divided into north, central and south zones and fishing harbours. The port has 26 alongside berths, including 21 deep-drafted berths and 2 oil jetties, in the 3 docks, viz., Dr. Ambedkar Dock, Satabt Jawahar Dock, and Bharathi Dock along with the container terminal, and draft ranging from 12–16.5 m (39–54.1 ft). Dr. Ambedkar Dock has 12 berths, Jawahar Dock has 6 berths, Bharathi Dock has 3 berths (for oil and iron ore), the container terminal has 3 berths and the moorings has 1 berth. The berths can handle containers as well as liquid and dry bulk and breakbulk cargoes. The approach channel to the port is 6,700 m (22,000 ft) long, and the turning basin is 560 m (1,840 ft) in length. A total of 9 well-lit channels marks buoys for the approach channel.

The Jawahar Dock has six berths with a total length of 1,310 m (4,300 ft) and maximum permissible draft of 10.4 m (34 ft) and 11 m (36 ft). All berths are 218.3 m (716 ft), and half of them have maximum draft of 10.4 m (34 ft). The dock mainly handles coal, fertilizer, iron ore lumps, pellets, edible oil, and phosperic acid. The Dr. Ambedkar Dock has 13 berths with a total length of 1,676 m (5,499 ft) and maximum permissible drafts from 8.5–12 m (28–39 ft). The longest berth is 246 m (807 ft) long with maximum draft of 9.5 m (31 ft). Berth No. 7 is 198 m (650 ft) long with maximum draft of 8.5 m (28 ft), whereas Berths 8, through 12 are each 170.6 m (560 ft) and have maximum draft of 11 m (36 ft). Berth 14 is 179 m (587 ft) long with maximum draft of 9.5 m (31 ft). Berths 18 and 19 are naval berths. The dock has car and cruise terminals and chiefly handles general cargo, cars, granite steel, and food grains. The Bharathi Dock contains three berths with total quay length of 917.2 m (3,009 ft), with berths ranging from 274.3 m (900 ft) in length with maximum permissible draft of 16.5 to 338.9 m (54 to 1,112 ft) in length with maximum draft of 14.6 m (48 ft). The dock has three terminals, namely, container terminal, iron ore terminal, and oil terminal. It mainly handles containers, iron ore, and POL (petroleum, oil and lubricants).

The oil terminals at the port's Bharathi Dock (BD1 and BD3) can accommodate tankers to 100,000 dead weight tonnage (DWT), and a third berth can handle tankers up to 280.4 m (920 ft) and 140,000 DWT. Berth BD1 can accommodate ships to 108.1 m (355 ft) long. The oil terminals have capacity to handle 12 million tons of cargo per year and to pump 3,000 tons of crude oil and 1,000 tons of petroleum products per hour. Each berth is equipped with five marine loading arms, and the berths have pipelines to convey crude oil, white oil, and furnace oil.

The port handles Suezmax tankers of up to a draft of 17 m at BD3 during day light, high tide as the per the present navigational practice and also during night hours subject to fulfilment of safety considertions on a ship-to-ship basis.

The iron ore terminal, which can handle 6 million tons per year and can load iron ore at a rate of 6,000 tons per hour, is also located at the Bharathi Dock. Berth BD2 can accommodate ore carriers up to 280.4 m (920 ft) in length. The terminal's separate receiving and shipping lines can function as an interconnected system. The terminal is served by rail lines and includes an ore stock yard with capacity for 544,000 metric tons.

The container terminal has four berths with a total quay length of 885 m (2,904 ft) and maximum permissible draft of 13.4 m (44 ft). With capacity to handle fifth-generation container vessels, three of the four berths are 200 m (660 ft) long, and one is 285 m (935 ft) long. The berths are served by seven quay cranes, including five super-post-Panamax and two post-Panamax cranes, and 24 gantry cranes. Operated by Chennai Container Terminal Private Limited, the container terminal has capacity for 950,000 TEUs. The container yard has 3,960 ground slots and 240 reefer plug points. The terminal contains 24 container freight stations with warehouse storage and offers 24-hr customs inspection and clearance facilities. The container terminal has direct services to Europe, China, the United States, Korea, Thailand, the Mediterranean region, and West Africa.

The warehousing and storage capacity available at the port is as follows:

The port handles a variety of cargo including iron ore, coal, granite, fertilizers, petroleum products, containers, automobiles and several other types of general cargo items. Due to the increase in container traffic, a second container terminal was planned and tender works given to PSA Sical. It has asked for support for a mega container terminal. The terminal would be the first deep-water terminal of its kind in India and would be able to handle ultra-large container ships of 13,000-15,000 TEUs capacity and length exceeding 400 m (1,300 ft). The management of the container terminal was taken over by P&O Ports of Australia. This has a volume growth of 20 per cent per year and has 59 per cent of the market share of South India. It has services to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Korea, China, Mediterranean, Europe, Australia and the United States.

The port has a current depth of 17 m (56 ft) and is capable of handling fourth-generation vessels up to 150,000 DWT. It is going through an expansion and will have a depth of 18–22 m (59–72 ft), a continuous quay length of 2 km (1.2 mi) and back-up area of around 100 ha (250 acres). Two new breakwaters for a total length of 4 km (2.5 mi) will be constructed — one as extension of the existing outer arm and the other extending from the fishing harbor breakwater. The consequent silting will reclaim about 300 ha (740 acres) of land. The mega terminal will be built on a 100-hectare (250-acre) portion of this land. The terminal will have a continuous quay length of 2 km (1.2 mi) with 18–22 m (59–72 ft) side along draft, capable of handling ultra-large container ships carrying over 15,000 TEUs. This will help it handle the latest generation vessels. Though the port is largely a container port, it has strategic importance as 3 service berths are allotted to the Indian Navy.

The approach channel to the port has two sections—the entrance channel within the protection of outer arm and the outer channel beyond the protection of outer arm. The total length of the entrance channel is 7 km. The width of channel gradually increased from 244 m to 419 m at the bent portion, then maintains a constant width of 305 m. The depth of the inner and the outer channels are 18.6 m and 19.2 m, respectively, below chart datum, with a swell allowances of 3 m. The entrance is 350 m in Bharathi Dock and 125 m in Dr. Ambedkar Dock. The draught in the navigational channel is maintained by dredging approximately 1 million cubic metres annually.