“We have set aside 900 acres of land and ₹500 crore to ₹700 crore for this diversification-cum-expansion plan,” said Anil Yendluri, chief executive officer and director, Krishnapatnam Port. “Civil works are on and the liquid cargo terminal will be ready in 18 months.”

As per the plan, KPCL would set up one berth on the north side measuring 400 acres and three berths on the south side of the port measuring 500 acres. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. has taken up 100 acres of land on the north side to put up a storage tank.

“So far, we have been focusing on general cargo. As part of diversification, we are now going to handle liquid cargo. The need for liquid cargo is growing more than general cargo. Hence, we are setting up a new liquid cargo terminal,” he said.

In talks with big players

According to Mr. Yendluri, the port is in talks with several players to set up one of the biggest liquid cargo terminals. The port would provide the basic infrastructure such as jetties to berth two vessels, pipelines to handle petroleum oil and lubricants, dredging and rail connectivity. KPCL currently has 14 operational berths that handle coal, iron ore, edible oil, bulk and break bulk cargoes. In the first six months of the current year, it handled 29.12 million tonnes of cargo against 45 million tonnes for 2017-18.

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