The Cochin Port Trust has sought the approval of the Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP) on the rate of wharfage of crude oil at the Single Buoy Mooring (SBM) facility likely to be commissioned soon by BPCL-Kochi Refinery. The port has fixed the wharfage at Rs 25 per tonne, which is mutually agreed by both the parties.

The port formulated a proposal for vessel-related charges applicable for the operations at the SBM considering the hire charges of tugs, fuel cost, overheads, and other related costs based on the information gathered from other SBM operators in the country.

As per the MoU, the port would render services in respect of pilotage, pullback operations, etc., to the vessels handled at the SBM.

It was also agreed that the port services would be charged at the prevailing tariff. In respect of pullback operations, the charges could be collected from tankers, senior port officials said.

Two Special Tugs

The port had also decided to hire two 50-tonne Bollard Pull tugs exclusively for handling vessels at the SBM as the existing tugs are not suitable for the SBM operations. Two parties have responded to the tender floated by the port, the officials added.

According to port officials, the berthing and un-berthing operations at SBM are highly skilled activities and senior/additional pilots are required for this. The work is quite different compared to berthing of ships in rigid berths and jetties within the enclosed harbour.

Extra tuggage power is also required to counter the effects of weather. The SBM site is 19 km from the coast line, in the open Arabian Sea, where the wave action and high swells make ship handling very difficult. Unlike approaching a rigid berth inside the harbour, the vessel has to approach an SBM, which rotates with tide. The aligning of the vessel is difficult and risky. Only highly skilled and experienced pilots can assist in mooring vessels.

Work in progress

The project would be commissioned any time there is a break in the monsoon, as already 95 per cent of the work has been completed, a Kochi Refinery Ltd (KRL) source said.

The buoy, manufactured by a Dutch firm in Indonesia, has arrived some time ago and has been berthed at Kochi port. The pipelines in the sea up to the point where the buoy is to be anchored and those through the backwaters have been laid already.

However, one of the three tanks is yet to be completed. Since two tanks have already been completed, the commissioning of the project could be done even before the completion of the third one, he said.

SPM Project, inevitable for refineries

The Single Point Mooring (SPM) project, estimated to cost around Rs 820 crore, has become inevitable for the refineries to reduce the cost on transportation of crude oil especially at a time when KRL is expanding its capacity from the present 7.5 million tonne per annum (MTPA) to 9.5 MTPA, a KRL source said.

The SPM, he said, is a floating buoy anchored at a depth of 30 metres for mooring large tankers and for receiving crude through floating hoses, under buoy hoses and a submarine pipeline.

Currently, KRL receives crude oil from Bombay High as well as from other countries at the Crude Oil Terminal (COT) of Cochin Port Trust by deploying limited capacity tankers up to 70,000 MT due to draft limitation at Kochi channel. This results in higher transportation costs to the refinery, especially when the crude oil is sourced from distant destinations such as Nigeria.

The use of Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) can cut substantially the transportation cost, and it is estimated that the company would save around Rs 200 crore on that count. “To become globally competitive, it is essential that KRL makes use of this freight advantage by setting up Crude Oil Receipt Facilities on its own. The location of the facilities was thereafter agreed upon based on a mutually beneficial Memorandum of Understanding with Cochin Port Trust,” the KRL source said.

The proposed project consists of the following main facilities:

The SPM, 19.4 km off the Puthuvypeen lighthouse in the Arabian Sea, for handling VLCCs of three lakh tonne capacity; a submarine pipeline to carry the crude oil from the SPM to the Shore Tank Farm (STF); the STF for storing 2.4 lakh kilo litres of crude oil at Puthuvypeen Coast, before it is pumped to KRL refinery at Ambalamugal; and an onshore pipeline between the STF and KRL of about 10 km including backwater crossing of about 4 km.