After 72-hour ordeal, Chinese ship reaches Haldia dock

Kolkata, June 19 After leaning dangerously for 72 hours in stormy seas without any assistance from the Kolkata Port Trust(KoPT), Chinese merchant vessel, J King, reached the Haldia Dock Complex on Thursday morning. The vessel, with 5,412 metric tonnes (MT) of cargo, was in dire straits, as thunderstorms had lashed the state and the coastline.

The vessel was waiting since June 13 to berth, but shortage of navigators with the KoPT had forced it remain there till June 16 evening, when the weather worsened. Subsequently, the KoPT authorities refused to send a navigator in the rough weather. The pitch and roll of stormy seas, meanwhile, had dislodged a part of the ship’s cargo to the right side causing the vessel to tilt dangerously at a 10 degree angle.

After docking safely at Haldia, captain of the vessel, Xuxizhen told The Indian Express, “We were at God’s mercy. We were only 30 nautical miles from the docks, but no help came from the port. My ship was tilting and we were out on the high seas in heavy gale. We had dropped double anchor, yet the cargo got dislodged.”

With no help in sight, Xuxizhen decided to act on his own.

“To correct the tilt, I filled the ballast tanks on the port (left) side of the ship. Eventually, we managed to reduce the tilt to five degrees. On Thursday morning, a pilot arrived from

Haldia and guided us to the docks. We are happy to make it safely.”

The vessel was carrying project cargo for a 4x600 MW power plant and a proposed aluminum smelter unit in Jharsuguda, Orissa. Both projects are being executed by the Sterlite Industries.