M.V. Lake D, a capesized ship of 181,458 DWT, called at the V.O. Chidambaranar Port this past Saturday, and offloaded a 6,000-tonne cargo of iron ore at the anchorage. It was the largest ship to have called at the port.

Due to the floating crane facility that the port offers, the cargo ship, carrying 177,068 metric tonnes of iron ore with a draught of 18.34 metres, was deployed to the port in order to offload 6,000 tonnes of iron ore.

V.O.Chidambaranar Port Trust

Image: V.O.Chidambaranar Port Trust

The last largest vessel that called at the port was M.V. Mutiara, which has a dead weight of 83,341 tonnes. It anchored at the port on October 7th of 2013 in order to offload coal, as stated by the VOC Port Trust on Saturday.

The port granted licence to a private firm, specialized in the handling of cargo, for operating a 32-tonne floating crane as well as three barges and discharge equipment at shore for a time period of 10 years accompanied by a revenue-sharing clause. The floating crane in question was commissioned on December 8th of 2014.

The new facility would also contribute a great deal to helping improve port traffic. Since the facility’s launching, four ships have been handled at the anchorage, and that includes the capsized vessel.

Also according to the statement made by the VOC Port Trust, the floating crane has attributed to the handling of approximately 25,732 tonnes of cargo at the port anchorage.