The Kandla Port Trust proposes to expand the Customs bonded area by about 40 hectares to bring the total to 222 hectares within the next 16 -18 months and has accordingly started the land development work.

The total cost of development is estimated at Rs 43 crore. The proposed additional area will be used for storing about half a million tonnes of cargo, mostly bulk. Right now the port has 182 hectares of Customs bonded area, 13.94 lakh sq. metres of open storage with a st orage capacity of more than three million tonnes and 1.26 lakh sq metres of covered storage areas with a capacity of 3.17 lakh tonnes. Three godowns are under construction and there is a proposal for constructing six more at a cost of Rs 26 crore.

Meanwhile, as the Kandla Port Trust Chairman indicates, the traffic throughput in the first quarter will be about 15.5 million tonnes, up by over four mt over the same period last year, posting nearly 42 per cent growth. The container throughput during the period will be up by 25 per cent at 50,000 TEUs (40,000 TEUs in the same period last year).