Kolkata Port carries ship-to-ship LPG lighterage at sandheads

The mother vessel, MT Yushan, with a parcel load of 44,551 MT cargo carried out the STS operation with daughter vessel, MT Hampshire, at Sandheads.For BPCL, this ship-to-ship lighterage operation under Haldia Dock System will save time by 7-9 days and USD 3,50,000 approximately Rs 2.6 crore per voyage.

For the first time, Kolkata Port has successfully handled ship-to-ship (STS) lighterage operation of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) of BPCL at Sandheads, a port official said.

Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port said the first-ever STS operation of LPG in the Indian Coast was undertaken by Bharat Petroleum on October 15 and a quantity of 23,051 MT of cargo was transferred to the daughter vessel in 17 hours. The mother vessel, MT Yushan, with a parcel load of 44,551 MT cargo carried out the STS operation with daughter vessel, MT Hampshire, at Sandheads.

For BPCL, this ship-to-ship lighterage operation under Haldia Dock System will save time by 7-9 days and USD 3,50,000 (approximately Rs 2.6 crore) per voyage. The instant STS operations are expected to open new business potential not only for the country's oldest riverine major port but also benefit the trade and country as a whole in terms of saving substantial foreign exchange, port chairman Vinit Kumar said.

The single-port handling would not only enable to overcome draft restriction at Haldia negating dead freight but also help in mobilisation of more cargo there by reducing unit costs, he said.

Import of LPG from the port had more than doubled in the last five years.

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