Kolkata Port Conducts India’s First-Ever Midstream Container Transfer

Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port Kolkata has achieved a landmark operational breakthrough by conducting India’s first-ever midstream container handling operation at Diamond Harbour Anchorage on the Hooghly River — a pioneering procedure that opens a new logistics pathway for export cargo originating in the Bengal-Bihar-Jharkhand industrial hinterland and destined for global markets without requiring berthing at a conventional quay.

At approximately 4:30 a.m. on April 25, export containers transported via inland barge on the Waterways 1 vessel were lifted directly and transferred onto the gearless container ship MSC Andrea F — mid-river, without the use of a conventional berth or jetty. The operation was carried out using the self-propelled floating crane Shreeji Samruddhi, which positioned itself between the barge and the container ship to execute the lifts with precision. The pioneer operation was conducted under the leadership of SMP Kolkata Chairman Rathendra Raman and attended by senior port officials, representing a significant advancement in the port’s operational repertoire.

Why Midstream Transfer Matters for Kolkata

Kolkata Port’s geographical constraint — its location 220 kilometres up the Hooghly River from the Bay of Bengal, with draft limitations that prevent the largest container vessels from berthing at Kolkata docks — has historically made the port less competitive than west coast ports for container cargo. The midstream transfer technique directly addresses this constraint by enabling cargo that has been loaded at inland locations onto shallow-draft barges to be transferred to ocean-going vessels anchored at Diamond Harbour — where the Hooghly reaches sufficient depth for ocean-going feeder vessels — without requiring the cargo to make the full river transit to Kolkata’s berths.

The operation is also strategically relevant in the context of the Hooghly’s role as a National Waterway. India’s inland waterway logistics programme has been expanding cargo movement on the Ganga-Hooghly axis, and the midstream transfer technique creates an operationally efficient interface between the inland waterway network and the coastal/international shipping network — enabling cargo from Varanasi, Patna, Kolkata, and the industrial clusters in between to connect with ocean-going vessels at Diamond Harbour without the cost and time of road or rail transport to a conventional container terminal. The MV VV Giri’s delivery of 300 tonnes of cement to Hatsingimari via National Waterway-57 on the Kopili River in Assam — reported in the same newsletter — illustrates the same principle of extending inland waterway reach to previously underserved locations.