NMPT inks pact with IOC to provide bunkering facilities to ships

The New Mangalore Port Trust signed an agreement with Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Bengaluru for providing bunkering facilities to ships visiting the harbour and ships at anchorage/offshore at the port on Tuesday.

The NMPT had invited tenders from firms having experience in supplying bunker fuel for the work of providing bunkering facilities to the ships visiting harbour and ships at anchorage/offshore at New Mangalore Port for a period of five years.

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd won the bid H1 by offering the highest minimum volume of bunker fuel offered by a firm.

Bunkering is a facility to supply fuel for use by ships and includes shipboard logistics of loading fuel and distributing it among available bunker tanks.

The port had aimed to provide all the required facilities to the shipping community in general and for the port users in particular in a phased manner.

The NMPT explored the possibilities of improving the facilities in the service sector especially in the area of shipping and in line with the guidelines and directives received from the Ministry of Ports Waterways and Shipping.

Based on the present policy of the Central government, the NMPT initiated action to identify infrastructure projects and found that the bunkering facilities for catering ocean-going vessels, coastal vessels etc. if established in this port, will have enough potential since the Port is located on the main Trunk route. Considering the strategic location of the Port among the international sea routes, it is possible to provide bunkering services to the ships within the port area connected to all berths and also those anchored outside the International Waters.

The objective was to provide the most appropriate facility from among the resources already available with the Port to serve as a full-fledged bunkering facility by incorporating the required modifications to achieve the intended purpose.

After the formal contract agreement, the expected minimum cargo to be handled will be 90,000 MT annually.

A V Ramana, Chairman, NMPT, Debabrata Mukherjee, GM – Institutional Business and V Jagadeeshwara Rao, Manager – Institutional Business were present at the event.