Mumbai Port Trust is reportedly planning to set up an oil berth with single buoy mooring facility at the port. The project, costing around Rs.150 crore, would come up with equity participation of oil PSUs.

The proposed oil berth, which will be the fifth berth at the Marine Oil Terminal, will have a capacity of 15 million tpa with a draft of 17m to accommodate Suezmax tankers.

During 2004-05, upgradation of oil handling facilities at a cost of Rs.564 crore was taken up. With this, the capacity of the port's Marine Oil Terminal has increased from 19 million tpa to 30 million tpa.

The oil berth is one of the four major projects that the port is taking up, the other three being:

• Offshore container terminal project (Rs.1,200 crore; RFQ's received)
• Chemical Jetty (Rs.75 crore)
• Redevelopment of harbour wall berths (Rs.115 crore)

The port has drafted a 10-year plan to enhance capacity for all types of cargoes from the existing 32 million tpa to 62 million tpa with active private sector participation.

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