The Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) have formed a joint-venture to build a dry bulk transshipment facility in the Bay of Bengal.
The terminal will be built at Sandheads, which is located at the mouth of the Hooghly River. However, this facility will not be able to operate during monsoon rains, so an alternative, at Kanika Sands, has been put forward for a much longer-term solution. Around 6mt (million tonnes) of coking coal will be handled by SAIL once the facility becomes operational.
Currently, SAIL imports around 4mt of coal through nearby Haldia, but the company requires its own jetty outside the lock gates. BC