Largest Cape Size Vessel with Highest Parcel Load Arrived at Sagar Anchorage in SMP Kolkata

· ‘M V Mineral Yangfan’, cape vessel with an LOA of 299.92 mtrs. and a beam length of 50 mtrs arrived at Sagar Anchorage on 01.09.2022 to discharge 70,300 MT of Coking Coal by Floating Cranes.

The historical milestone was achieved at its zenith on 1st September, 2022 when ‘M V Mineral Yangfan’, cape vessel with an LOA of 299.92 mtrs. and a beam length of 50 mtrs on account of M/s Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) arrived at Sagar Anchorage on 01.09.2022 to discharge 70,300 MT of Coking Coal by Floating Cranes. This is the largest dry bulker to arrive at anchorage with the highest ever parcel load.

Incidentally, ‘M V Mineral Yangfan’ is the 18th cape vessel in the current fiscal, while only four (04) cape vessels were handled till August in the last fiscal out of a total of fourteen (14) cape vessels, which were handled in 2021-22.

Cape vessel ‘M V Mineral Yangfan’ LOA 299.92m, beam 50 mtrs. and a draft of 9.3m registered at Portugal. The load port of the vessel was New Port, USA and the last port of call is Dhamra. Railway Division of Haldia is working in tandem with Marine Division for quick evacuation of cargo from the port and this is making HDC, the most preferred port of call which is 80 Miles away from Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata (SMP, Kolkata) and 25 Miles away from Haldia Dock Complex (HDC).

After a long persuasion from the management of SMP Kolkata, SAIL has agreed to bring two (02) cape vessels per month and has a plan to mobilize cargo throughput of 1.5 MMT per annum at anchorages.

Calling of such a Cape Vessel ‘M V Mineral Yangfan’ at Sagar Anchorage at 9.3 metre draft is a laudable landmark in the history of SMP, Kolkata despite its natural constraint being saddled with the responsibility of maintaining such one of the longest and most unpredictable navigational channels in the world said Vinit Kumar, Chairman, SMP, Kolkata.

Vinit Kumar, Chairman, SMP, Kolkata stated that the arrival of ‘M V Mineral Yangfan’ is significant, not only for being the 1st Cape vessel at Sagar, but also for carrying 70,300 MT of cargo which otherwise would have been carried in 2-3 separate vessels.

Appreciating this significant achievement Shri Kumar further stated that despite SMP, Kolkata being the only rivering major port in the country, SMP, Kolkata has been consistently maintaining its pivotal position in Indian Major Ports for the last 152 years.

Vinit Kumar, Chairman, SMP, Kolkata emphatically said that with the active co-operation of port users, specially SAIL and whole hearted efforts of all employees SMP, Kolkata will be able to attain many other remarkable records.