Steel cargo shipped through the Paradip port surged by 588 per cent in 2016-17 at 761,000 MT compared to 110,000 MT in the year-ago fiscal.
Paradip Port Trust (PPT) has rationalised the labour levy of steel cargo which resulted in handing of a record cargo of 141,000 MT of hot rolled (HR) coils loaded on March 23 this year. For the first time, the port received thermal coal from Eastern Coalfields Ltd (Asansol) and Central Coalfields Ltd (Dhanbad) for loading and shipment.
Again for the first time, 11,951 MT of Pet Coke produced in the IOCL refinery, Paradip was shipped to Orient Cement Ltd through coastal shipment on February 28, 2017. Coastal trade between the port and Bangladesh also commenced in December 2016.
PPT achieved all time traffic throughput of 88.95 MnT during the year 2016-17, as against the previous year’s traffic of 76.39 MnT, exhibiting a growth of 16.46 per cent year-on-year. The traffic handled by the port during the financial year is the second highest and also it has maintained the second position in terms of traffic handled amongst all major ports after Kandla.
During FY17, the port performance parameter- Berth-day out-put improved to
23,139 MT with 12.24 per cent growth and the Berth Occupancy is 66 per cent as against 67 per cent of the previous year despite of handling of 16.46 per cent more cargo to lead the port at par with the international standards. A record quantity of 8.34 MnT of cargo handled during March 2017, surpassing the previous record of 8.06 MnT handled during July- 2016.
The port’s operating revenues showed a growth of 15 per cent. The operating ratio improved to 54 per cent and operating expenditure per tonne of cargo handled to the tune reduced to INR 71.95. The port has taken up a host of projects to increase the capacity from existing 126.94 MnT per annum (mtpa) to 325 mtpa by 2025. Among the ongoing projects of the Paradip port include development of a multi-purpose berth to handle clean cargo and containers at an estimated cost of INR 430.78 crore. This project is expected to be operational in December 2018. A deep draught coal berth, with a capacity to handle 10 mtpa, is also being built on BOT (build, own and transfer) basis at a cost of INR 655.56 crore.
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