 "Paradip port posts 24% rise in profit")
In the year ending March 31, the port earned Rs 233 crore surplus after tax, up from Rs 187.62 crore in the previous fiscal. During the period, its total revenue rose to Rs 1,068 crore, a 34 per cent surge from 2012-13. Officials attributed the better financial performance of the port to rising cargo traffic.
“PPT achieved traffic throughput of 68 million tonne (mt) during 2013-14 against previous year’s traffic of 56.55 mt exhibiting a growth of 20.25 per cent year-on-year,” the port trust said in a statement today.
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Thermal coal traffic at Paradip port went up to 25 mt last fiscal, up from 21.4 mt in 2012-13. Shipment of coking coal, mainly imports, increased by more than 50 per cent to 7 mt in the same period, data from Indian Port Association showed.
Coal and coking coal shipment rose across the country in last financial year as steelmakers and power producers imported the fuel taking advantage of price fall in global market.
Average coking coal prices remained around $111-$118 a tonne throughout the year in global market in 2013-14, sharply lower than $140 a tonne in 2012-13. The sliding rates pushed the imported coking coal volume, importers said. India annually buys about 30-32 mt coking coal mostly from Australia, as its indigenous production meets only 10 per cent of the requirement. However, in 2012-12, the shipments slipped below 30 mt due to higher cost of the metallurgical coal.
The port said, it is in the process of implementing various projects that would boost its cargo handling capacity to 270 million tonne per annum (mtpa) by 2023, from existing 108.50 mtpa. It has recently received final forest clearance from the Centre to develop a 10 mtpa oil jetty and 5 mtpa multipurpose clean cargo berth.
It has also initiated bidding process for mechanisation of three existing berths, construction of a dedicated iron ore berth and will soon invite expression of interest for development of a berth for liquid cargo other than petroleum products.
Transloading facility
The port was recently entrusted with the task of overseeing transloading facility at Kanika Sands, via a gazette notification of Union Shipping Ministry. As per the notification, PPT will now have jurisdiction over shipment activity in the area as its limits have been expanded upto north of Odisha waters, but the facility can be used by other ports including Kolkata, which had earlier claimed its authority over this spot off the Odisha coast. Port officials said, they will outsource the operation in the area after discussing modalities with other port officials.
“We have not finalised yet what will be the modalities for bidding process as the notification is very recent. We will work out terms of reference for the operator at Kanika Sand very soon,” said S S Mishra, chairman of PPT during a press meet. While the move is primarily aimed to help Kolkata Port in cargo handling during the monsoon months, the Paradip port would get some revenue from the facility, too, although the exact quantum of business would depend on the capacity and bid quotations.