Kolkata Port to add box capacity

The burgeoning container traffic at Kolkata Dock System — which registered 27 per cent growth in first five months of the current fiscal — has forced Kolkata Port Trust to add to its container stacking yard capacity.

For a long time the capacity remained unchanged at 60,000 sq metres, which is being increased to 90,000 sq metres. Another 40,000 sq metres will be added by March 2008 and by the end of 2008-09 there will be a further addition of 40,000 sq metres taking the total capacity to 1,70,000 sq metres.

Since the containers are evacuated mostly by road — as much as 90 per cent of the loaded containers are taken out of the dock system by trucks — it results in traffic snarls. The port authorities are therefore setting up a truck terminal just outside the dock to accommodate as many as 200 vehicles. The terminal is expected to be ready for operation by the end of this month.