Dhamra Port Company Limited, a 50:50 JV of Larsen & Toubro and TATA Steel, to set up a port at Dhamra in Orissa is expected to commission the port by April 2010. Estimated to cost INR 2,463 crore in the first phase, more than 25% of the work has already been completed.

The first phase will see two of the total 13 berths being developed with the northernmost being for liquid cargo, the southernmost for clean cargo and the middle berth for dry bulk cargo.

Mr Santosh Mohapatra CEO of Dhamra Port Company Limited said that the two berths will have basic loading unloading facilities. In the first phase, the capacity of the port will be 25 million tonnes annually, ultimately going to 80 million tonnes annually. In the first phase, the port will provide direct employment to around 1,000 people.

The Dhamra port site is north of the river Dhamra and will come up as a deep draft port which can accommodate super cape size vessels. A number of steel plants, apart from TATA Steel, are coming up in the three states of Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
Meanwhile, steel makers setting up factories in Bengal, Jharkhand and Orissa have shown interest in the upcoming Dhamra Port through which they plan to route imports and exports. The companies want to use the port to import coking coal, limestone and export finished steel.