LHI designs India’s second largest container port

Lanka Hydraulic Institute Ltd. (LHI), was awarded the project of mathematical model studies for RRM for improvement of Draughts in Hooghly Estuary, where sediment deposits at the entrance of the river has made India’s second largest container port redundant.

Hooghly River is approximately 40km away from Kolkota. It is said that Vasco-da-gama, the Portuguese sailor was one of the first Europeans to reach this area which was a river port then. The Portuguese used Hooghly River as a main way of transportation and also as a trading port.

The town of Hooghly, which is more than 500 years old, was soon transformed into a major commercial centre and the largest port in Bengal in the 1500s and is today considered one of the most economically developed districts in West Bengal due to its main cultivation industry of jute. The formation of sand bars has raised the river bed, making the shipping channel shallow.

Many of India’s power companies, steel and chemical plants and refineries are spending massive amounts to divert their cargo through other ports. In a situation nearing closure LHI was awarded to conduct the mathematical model testing, at their own laboratory at Katubedda. Moratuwa. Clients can gain visual access to the proceedings through IP Cameras fixed in the flume/basin.

“The model studies are proposed to be carried out using a combination of 1D and 2D modelling techniques to design a suitable model. The wave impact in the lower estuary of the Hooghly will be studied using the Spectral Wind Wave model. The stirring of sediment of outer bars from wave action is important.” said.