Chennai-Ennore marine highway gathers momentum; cost estimated at Rs. 5.6 crore.

The development of a marine highway along East Coast connecting Chennai and Ennore ports, to ferry containers is gathering momentum. Barges will move the containers to avoid congestion on the road. In Europe, barges transport large volumes of containers between ports via inland waterways or small rivers that maintain uniform water level. The project in Chennai is complicated due to varying tide pattern, according to sources in Chennai Port Trust (ChPT).

The project will cost Rs. 5.60 crore, and an operator will run the roll-on/roll-off barge service at both ends. ChPT has invited bids from the private sector for the project. Three barges with a minimum capacity of 24 twenty foot equivalent unit (TEU) each will be put in service, with a minimum 100 TEUs to be handled between the two terminals every day. It will take nearly four hours to ferry containers between ports, said sources.

Chennai port is the second largest container port handling about 1.5 million containers annually, or one third of India's total container traffic. The volume is expected to increase substantially with plans to develop more container handling terminals.

If a private operator constructs the civil infrastructure and operates the barges, the potential saving per container could be Rs. 1,600. However, if the port sets up the civil infrastructure and allows a private operator to run the barges, the saving could increase to around Rs. 2,500 per container, said a feasibility report prepared by CII last year.

The trade is sceptical of the feasibility of the project. When the project was conceived a year ago, the Ennore-Manali Expressway was highly congested and container-laden trailers had to wait for hours to enter Chennai port. There is a plan to move containers by rail. This will reduce the load on the road.

HBL