Gujarat based Port Pipavav has recently commissioned a state of the art environmentally responsive coal handling facility. It is capable of storing nearly 250,000 tonne of coal.

Pipavav said that the newly designed coal yard ensures that coal can be handled and stored efficiently and safely, without adverse impact on any other cargo.

Mr Ashley Din Ning CFO of Gujarat Pipavav Port Ltd said that “At Port Pipavav, we handle substantial amounts of fertilizer and cotton. It is critical to ensure that these and other sensitive cargo types are not contaminated by coal dust at the port.”

He said that the new coal facility includes an integrated system of two electric level luffing cranes and a mobile conveyor system leading to the coal yard. The main conveyor system is designed to handle coal to be unloaded from ship and stacked in the coal yard.

Mr Din Ning said that it is 1.2 kilometer long and divided into three segments with two traveling trippers in stack yard. The conveyor system has a rated handling capacity of 2,000 tonnes per hour. The most striking feature of the facility is a well-planned and designed co al yard, which prevents and controls the coal dust from escaping the yard thus avoiding contamination to any other cargo type.