Thoughts on future potentials

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Crude Transshipment
India - like most countries - imports the vast majority of its crude oil requirement. The world over, crude is transported internationally by oil tankers. Crude oil tankers canrange in displacement anywhere from about 50,000 tons to 550,000 tons. The rule is larger, the better. This follows from the simple principle of economies of scale.This concept combined with the temporary closure of the Suez Canal in the 70s, prompted the birth of supertankers. These giants range from 200,000 tons to 550,000 tons in displacement with lengths of upto 1500 feet and drafts of over 90 feet (26 metres). However, as mentioned above, one 300,000-ton supertanker can carry crude much more cheaply than six 50,000-ton tankers or three 100,000-ton tankers.
It is the size of the supertankers that prevents tem being used everywhere. Very few ports can accommodate them, mainly due to their deep drafts. In India, only select ports like Vizag, Mundra and Kakinada can accommodate even the smallest of them - with displacements under 250,000 tons. And that's after a lot of dredging. So what is done? One solution is called a Single Buoy Mooring, which is an oil terminal out in the deep sea. Such an SBM is in the advanced stages of planning, off the Kochi coast. However SBMs are expensive and have relatively low throughput. The more popular solution is Transshipment, similar to that in containers. Supertankers offload their cargo onto smaller ships which then take it into shallow water ports. In India, transshipment is done out at sea or in outer harbours – like at Sandheads, at the mouth of the Hooghly or at Vizag. This is a cumbersome process and is at the mercy of the weather, which is often turbulent in the Bay of Bengal. By far the best option is port based transshipment, where both supertanker and the smaller ships are moored in a port, which also has crude oil storage facilities - this means that the supertanker can leave as soon as its cargo is offloaded to the storage tanks. Vizhinjam has massive potential for this. With its 23m natural draft, it can accommodate almost any supertanker in the world. Ships of upto 400,000 tons can be docked with minimal dredging. The port's proximity to the main Persian Gulf-Malacca oil tanker route is an another important plus-point. Vizhinjam can handle millions of tons of crude in the future. This will help to reduce import prices significantly. Significant revenues can be generated from bunkering and ship repair as well. Another extension could be the development of a major LNG terminal. Petroleum refining, petrochemical and power plants can also be considered.
Dry Dock facility
In addition to the obvious benefits stated above, a slightly more farsighted approach can envision the construction of a major dry dock facility inside the harbour to construct deep draft ships as well as to provide repair facilities to ships passing by on the shipping lanes. The biggest Indian shipyard today has a maximum ship building capacity of less than 150,000 tons. This cannot cater to the need of the domestic shipping industry nor tap into the huge international demand for ships. Most of the major domestic orders actually flow to foreign shipbuilders, usually in Korea. The shipbuilding industry can look forward to a solid future as shipping capacity expands and old ships are replaced. A case in point would be the fact that in the next few years, millions of tons of shipping will have to be built as double-hulled ones, in line with maritime regulations, replace single hulled tankers.http://www.dgshipping.com/