J. M. Baxi & Co., a leading port agency house, handled five vessels at the same time at Krishnapatnam Port. The port has 13 berths and on 28 July 2019, five of the berths were occupied by vessels :
- MV Cape Lily berthed at berth 6 at 1154 hours on 25 July 2019
- MV Deccan Pride berthed at berth 8 at 1718 hours on 25 July 2019
- MV Vishva Malhar berthed at berth 7 at 1800 hours on 25 July 2019
- MV Mystras berthed at berth 3 at 2215 hours on 27 July 2019
- MV Junior berthed at berth 4 at 0112 hours on 28 July 2019
J. M. Baxi & Co. was the full agent for MV Deccan Pride, MV Cape Lily and MV Junior, and the charterer agents for MV Vishva Malhar and MV Mystras. At berth 8, MV Deccan Pride was carrying Indian coal from Paradip for M/s Sembcorp Energy India Ltd. The coastal cargo movement was contracted with carriers PCL (India). MV Deccan Pride successfully completed her 100th voyage recently, carrying 7.4 MT of coal from Paradip to Krishnapatnam. This contract has been running for the past 4 years and marks a remarkable achievement for Krishnapatnam Port. MV Mystras docked at berth 3 with 55,650 MT of Indian coal from Paradip for Mudhunur Power Plant, which is operated by M/s APGENCO. MV Junior had shipped 88,000 MT of hard coking coal from Australia for M/s JSW Steel Ltd. MV Cape Lily was at berth 6 with 88,010 MT of PCI coal and 79,286 MT of soft coking corex from Australia for JSW Steel. Finally, MV Vishva Malhar tied up at berth 7 with 52,850 MT of Indian coal from Paradip for Mudhunur Power Plant.
The J. M. Baxi & Co. branch at Krishnapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, was established in 2006 and obtained a steamer agency licence in 2007. The dredging of Krishnapatnam Port was first done by the agency vessel MV Transporter (a submersible vessel) in 2007. J. M. Baxi & Co. started handling granite in 2009 and by 2014, a total of 5.96 lakh tons of granite blocks had been loaded into 70 vessels at the port.
J. M. Baxi & Co. acts as steamer agents for tramp and container vessels and as stevedores for project and break-bulk vessels coming under liner terms. It has a CHA licence at Krishnapatnam Custom House, allowing it to undertake vessel importation and cargo customs activities.
The port has 13 operational berths and a deep draft of 18.5 m. It can handle 200,000 DWT super capesize vessels. It has specialised terminals for bulk, break-bulk, ODC, liquid and container cargo. Krishnapatnam Port’s stateof- the- art container terminal has a current capacity of 1.2 million TEUs. After its next phase of development, it will have a capacity of 4.8 million TEUs, which will make this megaterminal one of the biggest in the country. It encompasses container yards, coal storage yards, dedicated plots, warehouses and many railway sidings, all spread over 6800 acres.
Several major industries are reliant on Krishnapatnam Port, such as thermal power plants, refineries for edible oil, lubricant plants, steel plants, leather parks, fertiliser plants, special economic zones, pipe manufacturers, multi-product industrial zones, windmill manufacturers, mega food parks, etc. The region is expected to change the economic and trade outlook of East India by becoming the industrial growth engine of South and East India. A ro-ro terminal, liquid bulk terminal, and bunkering, rig repair and offshore facilities are all in development. It will be a catalyst, enabling an industrial revolution in the region by being a major gateway for exports and imports. The port has dedicated road and rail connectivity to the national road and rail networks and an evacuation capacity of 100 MTPA, which can be scaled up to 300 MTPA.