Visakhapatnam command centre for ports

Chennai: Inaugurating a unified co­mmand and control centre of Visakhapatnam Port Tr­­ust at a function in Ch­ennai on Friday, the Union shipping minister G.K. Vasan highlighted the significance of such facilities that help in monitoring and controlling the operations of ports from a single location.

Appreciating Vizag port, which is the first port to have full-fledged ERP system, he said similar facilities should be set up by other ports also. “Vizag po­rt has embraced information technology in an innovative way by conce­iving this first-of-its- kind command centre.

This cross functional and coll­a­b­orative environme­nt wo­uld enable monitoring of port operations su­ch as navigation, cargo handling, railway operations, security, environment ma­nagement, com­m­er­cial tr­a­nsactions, communicati­on and so on in one place,” he added.

Earlier, the shipping minister dedicated the fully mechanised coal terminal operated by Adani Vizag Coal Terminal that was developed at a cost of Rs 323.18 crore.

The facility is expected to cater to the re­quir­em­ents of power se­ctor. The concession ag­re­em­ent for development of mechani­sed facility for handling iron ore was also signed between Vizag port and Vadinar Oil Terminal on Friday. The project is expected to provide a solution to en­v­ironmental hazards po­sed by non-mechanised ir­on ore handling.

Later speaking to rep­orters, Vasan reiterated the need to protect Ta­mil Nadu fishermen and hoped that the proposed talks bet­ween the fishermen associations and the Sri Lankan representati­ves later this month would be fruitful.

On the farmers’ fear in delta districts over the laying of GAIL pipelines thr­ough their lands, the minister said that awareness should be given to remove their fear before taking any steps on that project.