KARWAR: The dredging work at Karwar port, which was taken up after a gap of six years, has now been completed. With this, big vessels can easily enter the port without any fear of getting stuck in silt.
According to port office sources, about 40 per cent depth of the ship channel was filled with silt.
Hence, it had become difficult for the fully loaded vessels to move near the port. When the government gave its nod for dredging, a work tender of Rs 33 crore was floated. The dredging work was started in December and it got over about a week ago.
The tender was allotted to Chennai-based International Seaport Dredging Private Limited (ISD) Company. In the last three months, it removed about 1.7 million cubic metre silt from the ship channel and made a 150 metre channel to facilitate entry of ship to the port from the deep sea, source added.As huge quantity of silt was stored in the ship channel, ships were not able to carry more than 10 metric tonnes of cargo
through the channel. Moreover, fully loaded ships were not coming to the port due to silt accumulation. The disruption in movement of ships had affected the revenue of the port.
The 9.7 metre depth of the ship channel in the port was reduced to 5.5 metre due to silt accumulation. With the completion of dredging work, the depth has been increased to 8.5 metres. Now, the channel of 120 metre width and 2,000 metre length is free off silt. The vessels can easily enter the port from the Light House Island entrance through the channel.According to a port officer, following waves, rain, river flow and pollution, silt accumulates in the ship channel. Hence, the port authorities need to take up dredging work at least once in three-four years.