Chennai Port to revive huge outer harbour challenge at 8,000 crore

Chennai Port’s huge outer harbour challenge has been deliberate at a value of ₹8,000 crore and the primary part shall be prepared by 2031.

The proposed outer harbour challenge at Chennai Port will add capability, lower logistics time and price, and assist the port deal with a number of the world’s largest ships, officers of Chennai Port Authority mentioned.

Bigger vessels demand deeper drafts, superior berths and high-throughput dealing with.

The outer harbour shall be constructed seaward, past the present harbour line, thereby creating extra capability, a senior official mentioned.

This challenge has been deliberate with a 20-metre-plus draft and therefore ultra-large container ships might be dealt with, like these with carrying capability of over 20,000 TEU (twenty-foot equal models).

The Chennai Port Authority will shortly appoint a transaction advisor to hold out the feasibility research and this challenge shall be applied on a Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer (DBFOT) foundation. Officials mentioned by the tip of 2026, the concessionaire shall be chosen and shall be given a 45-year interval for this challenge.

Evolving expertise

It shall be executed in phases, with the primary part slated for completion by 2031. Since the challenge is proposed in a phased method, with time, every part can undergo iterations to improve with the evolving expertise. In the primary part, the port intends to deal with ships with 18 metres of draft and subsequently, within the following phases, the outer harbour shall be outfitted to deal with ships with 21 metres in future.

Rail connectivity

According to the Request for Proposal (RFP) issued, this challenge will embody “building of breakwater, reclamation of land for yard improvement, berth building, improvement of container parking yard, roads, inner rail connectivity, set up of dealing with tools, dredging of basin and channel and offering navigational aids, tugs and floating crafts”.

This is the third time that Chennai Port Authority has been taking efforts to revive the challenge after it didn’t take off on the final two makes an attempt. In 2007, it was conceived as a “mega container terminal north of Bharathi Dock” with 2-km quay size and 4 MTEU capability to deal with bigger container vessels.

After IIT-Madras carried out a research, they floated bids, however the response was reasonably poor. The authorities tried to revive the challenge but once more in 2013, nonetheless,  the challenge was met with no response.

Now, for the reason that State has been seeing accelerated industrial progress and factoring within the transshipment wants of the area and developments in delivery trade, the challenge has been dropped at life once more.

The Outer Harbour is being deliberate at a time when the Chennai Port–Maduravoyal Elevated Corridor can also be shaping up concurrently.

The extra cargo that may come to town might be dealt with effectively because the hall’s devoted degree and a number of ramps will separate port-bound heavy automobiles from native site visitors and ease choke factors.