The traffic throughput for Haldia
Dock (under Kolkata Port Trust) so far in the current fiscal has been lower by
around 10% vis-à-vis the same period last year.
While iron ore is considered the
major villain, the throughputs of a few other cargoes too leave much to be
desired. Thus, there has been nearly 50 per cent drop in crude and another 10
to 11% drop in coking coal imports.
Causes of Drop in Traffic:
Improved availability of railway rakes this year has reduced the
requirement of barge movement of imported coking coal between Vizag and Haldia
by SAIL and between Paradip and Haldia by Tata Steel. Such movement took place
on a big scale last year.
Drop in iron ore export is also believed to have been caused partly
by the slump in global demand and partly by the poor availability of the ore
due to restrictions imposed on mining in major iron ore producing areas by the
respective state governments.
Asymmetry in Railway freight was also noticed. The rail freight for
transportation of one tonne of iron ore for export to different destinations are as follows:
Barbil to Haldia (395 km) = Rs 2,842,
Barbil to Paradip (660 km) = Rs
2,879
Barbil to Visakhapatnam (1,071
km) = Rs 3,265
Barbil to Gangavaram (1076 km) = Rs 3,295
Thus, the distance from Barbil to
Visakhapatnam/Gangavaram is more than twice that between Barbil and Haldia but
the freight differential is not as much, it is small. The location advantage of
Haldia, that is its proximity to mines, is not reflected in the railway
freight.
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