Italian ship to cost BPCL-KRL Rs.40 lakh per day

KOCHI: When Enrica Lexie, the vessel involved in the killing of two fishermen off the Kerala coast, was docked at the Cochin Oil Terminal (COT) of the Cochin Port Trust at 2 am on Friday, BPCL Kochi Refinery Limited (KRL) began to lose at least Rs 1.66 lakh per hour.Enrica Lexie was allotted berthing space after evacuating another tanker, Jag Prachi, which had berthed at the COT on Thursday evening. Jag Prachi was about to start pumping furnace oil to the BPCL-KRL when she was asked to go back to the outer channel and await further orders. Worsening the situation, yet another tanker, carrying auto fuel for BPCL-KRL reached the outer channel on Saturday.Though CPT has the facility to accommodate two tankers at a time, COT - situated opposite to the Ernakulam wharf - can accommodate only one large tanker at a time. Hence, the two vessels could gain entry to the port only after the Italian ship leaves COT. Even when the terminal becomes vacant, one vessel will still have to wait in the outer channel.  BPCL authorities said that it would be a set back for them as they will have to pay a huge amount as demurrage to the shipping companies for the delay.“Since there is no receiving facility, we have no option but to wait till the berth is vacant,” said the BPCL authorities. The oil company will have to pay a demurrage of `40 lakh per day to the shipping companies for making them wait in Kochi for no fault of theirs. The CPT will also have to bear the brunt of the stand-off. “It is true that the port trust will have to bear the loss. But the port is owned by the Government of India and we stand by the interest of the nation,” said CPT chairman Paul Antony. The rent for hiring a berth at COT is `2.5 lakh per day for a tanker vessel up to 30,000 Gross Register Tonnage (GRT). For a large vessel like Enrica Lexie, which is of around 50,000 GRT, the approximate berth rent will come to around Rs 3 lakh per day. There also exists the possibility of a dispute arising in this regard considering the circumstances. “Though Enrica Lexie was brought to Kochi forcefully, the Port Trust will claim the berth hiring charge. The company will have to pay the birth hiring charge as the vessel was brought to Kochi after getting involved in a crime,” said Cochin Port Trust traffic manager C Unnikrishnan.