By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, December 12, 2015 : The Gopalpur port on Odisha’s southern coast on Saturday resumed operations after a gap of two years.

The Port was severely hit by Phailin cyclone in October two years ago following which operations had come to a grinding halt. Again last year, the port was hit again by another cyclonic storm, Hudhud.

The port had incurred around Rs.250 crore losses due to Phailin. Several portions of the port, including its breakwater, had been damaged following the cyclonic storms.

Sri Lankan vessel “Grace” with a shipment of around 20,000 ton of sand of Odisha Sands Complex (OSCOM), a unit of Indian Rare Earths Ltd (IREL) anchored at the dock in Ganjam district.

Transport Minister Ramesh Majhi flagged off the re-functioning of Gopalpur Port in presence of Berhampurlocal Lok Sabha member MP Siddhant Mahapatra.

“Some more cargo vessels have lined up to anchor during the current month. About five cargo vessels would anchor at the port,” said Manmohan Moharana, director (operations) of Gopalpur Port Limited (GPL).

The seasonal port was upgraded to an all-weather port in May 2013.

“The port has been made functional with enhanced cargo handling capacity. There is no problem to receive the big vessels in the port now,” said Moharana.