Bhubaneswar:
With falling production and high export duty, iron ore exports from Odisha has
come down drastically in the current financial year.
According to the data provided by the Indian
Ports Association the Iron ore traffic handled by the Paradip Port Trust (PPT) drops
almost 72.57% in the recently concluded 2012-13 financial year.
The iron ore
traffic during the financial year has come down to only 1834,000 tons from
6687,000 tons during the 2011-12 financial year.
The fall in traffic is
mainly being attributed to the fall in export of the commodity.
Odisha has been
a major exporter of iron ore, but due to closure of several mines and crack
down on illegal mining, production of the commodity has come down drastically
to 66 million tonnes last year and is expected to drop further to 40 to 45
million tonnes this year.
Not
only Odisha the iron ore export from another major state Goa has come down
drastically.
The iron ore traffic at the Murmugao port has dropped by 74%
during 2012-13 to 7421,000 tonnes from 29.3 million tonnes during the same
period in the last financial year.
Thermal
Coal traffic up 30%; Total
cargo Traffic up 4.24% at PPT
PPT
has handled the second highest throughput of 56.55 million tonnes cargo during
the year-2012-13 against 54.55 million tonnes handled during the year 2011-12
registering a growth of 4.24 percent. The total cargo handled at Paradip Port
comprised 17.44 million tonnes of export cargo and 39.11 million tonnes of
import cargo In spite of slowdown of
economy, the Port has done remarkably well and has been placed the at the 5th
position in terms of cargo handling among all
the Major Ports of India.
The
highest bulk cargo traffic was witnessed in handling of 21.39 million tonnes of
thermal coal which is 30% higher than the quantity handled during the last
year. Besides, is a 66.46 percent rise in container handling this year compared
to the last year.
The
capacity of the port has been enhanced from 80 million tonnes to 102 million
tonnes this year by commissioning of the Single Point Mooring No-2 & No-3
having maximum 23 meters & 24 metres draught respectively for handling 3,20,000
DWT vessels. Capacity is also being
augmented by enhancing draught at various Berths to 14 metre to handle fully
loaded Panamax size vessels.
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