Port of Kandla

Kandla Port, officially known as Deendayal Port, is a seaport in Kutch district of Gujarat, India. The port is situated in the Kandla Creek and is 90 km from the mouth of Gulf of Kutch, it is one of India's major ports on the west coast. It is about 256 nautical miles southeast of the Port of Karachi in Pakistan and about 430 nautical miles north-northwest of the Port of Mumbai. Kandla Port was constructed in the 1950s as the chief seaport serving western India.

The depth of the channel of port depends on the tide. This channel has a minimum depth of 13 meters. It is the largest port of India by volume of cargo handled. Kandla Port was renamed as Deendayal Port in 2017 under the Indian Ports Act, 1908.

The Kandla Port is one of the ports that support the hinterland of North, West and Central India. It mainly transports liquid and bulk cargoes; handled 132.3 million metric tonnes of cargoes in the 2023–24 financial year.

History and Location
Kandla was constructed in the 1950s as the chief seaport serving western India, after the independence of India. The Port of Deendayal is located on the Gulf of Kutch on the northwestern coast of India, some 256 nautical miles southeast of the Port of Karachi in Pakistan and over 430 nautical miles north-northwest of the Port of Mumbai (Bombay). The port infrastructure of this port is located at three different locations along the Gulf of Kutch, which are Kandla Creek, Tuna Tekra and Vadinar. The port is located 90 mi from the Gulf of Kutch estuary or the Arabian Sea.

The substrata of the port area consists of silty clay up to a depth of 10 m below seabed, followed by hard silt up to 26 m; Dense sands are observed underneath the hard silt. Kandla has seasonal temperature variations; April and May are the warmest months, while December and January are the coldest months. The maximum temperature in May is 40°C and the minimum temperature in January is 12°C; the average daily maximum temperature is 34°C and the average daily minimum temperature is 20°C. Low rainfall is observed in Kandla. The port receives most of its seasonal rainfall from the southwest monsoon from June to September, with an average rainfall of 153 mm. April and May are the driest months, with average monthly rainfall below 0.6 mm. The average annual rainfall in this region is about 322 mm. Visibility in the harbor area is good throughout the year, and low visibility can usually be observed during rain and storms.

Kandla is a natural tidal harbour, completely protected from waves during monsoons; Connected to deep water by a dredged channel.

Oil jetties
Liquid products at the Kandala creek are mainly transported by seven oil jetties along the western bank of the creek. Each jetty consists of a service deck and a total of four dolphin moorings, two each on either side of the service deck. These jetties differ in the length of their service docks; oil jetty no-1 has the shortest length, which is 89.4 m long, and jetties no-4, 5, 6, and 7 have the longest length, which are each 110 m long. According to the construction design and infrastructure, the oil jetties are capable of handling oil tankers ranging from 40,000 DWT to 65,000 DWT. Among the oil jetties, oil jetty no-6 has the lowest navigability with a draft of 10.1 m and oil jetty no-7 has the highest navigability with a draft of 13 m, while the length ranges of berth from a minimum of 183 m to a maximum of 216 m.

Oil jetty no-1 to no-7 are each capable of handling two million tonnes of liquid products. Oil jetty no-1 mainly handles LPG and chemicals, oil jetty no-2, 3 and 4 each handle chemicals, oil jetty no-5 carries gas/chemicals, oil jetty no-6 handles petroleum products and oil jetty no-7 mainly handles edible oil.

Cargo berths
Cargo berths mainly handle bulk cargoes and containers. There are a total of 16 berths, of which two are container berths and others are bulk cargo berths. The maximum draft at the terminal is 14.5 metres, providing berthing capacity for vessels up to 255 meters in length.

Traffic handled
The west coast port handled 7.223 crore (72.225 million) tonnes of cargo in 2008–09, over 11% more than the 6.492 crore (64.920 million) tonnes handled in 2007–08. Even as much of this growth has come from handling of crude oil imports, mainly for Nayara Energy's Vadinar refinery in Gujarat, the port is also taking measures to boost non-POL cargo. Last fiscal, POL traffic accounted for 63 per cent of the total cargo handled at Kandla Port, as against 59% in 2007–08. In 2015-16 the port handled 10.6 crore (106 million) tonnes of cargo.

In 2008–09, total port traffic grew by 13.6% to reach an all-time high of 7.22 crore (72.22 million) tonnes. The port's share in traffic handled by all major ports has risen steadily over the years, peaking at 13.6% in 2008-09 (see table). Earlier projections made by the port indicate an annual capacity handling target of 10 crore (100 million) tonnes per annum by 2012.