In a first, Rajasthan to get thermal coal through coastal shipping

This comes as current supply pressures and heavy monsoons have choked several busy stretches of the railways, even as states struggle to avert another power crisis

Amid issues of traffic congestion on several Indian Railway routes, states are now looking at alternatives to avert another power crisis. Rajasthan will, for the first time, procure thermal coal using the rail-sea-rail (RSR) route, better known as coastal shipping, Business Standard has learnt. This comes as current supply pressures and heavy monsoons have choked several busy stretches of the railways.

Rajasthan, which gets a bulk of its coal supply for power generation from Parsa Kanta coal block in Chhattisgarh, is facing a crunch as the state government has put several regulatory barriers. The Chhattisgarh government has shut all coal washeries in the state, following a 2020 order from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

To make up for the shortfall, the state government was allotted coal from Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) mines in Odisha. MCL is one of the seven subsidiaries of national miner Coal India Limited (CIL).  

For the movement of this coal, Rajasthan for the first time would utilise the Sagarmala route, said senior coal ministry officials. It will load coal at Paradip Port from Talcher in Odisha using railways, and move it till Deendayal Port Trust (Kandla Port) in Gujarat through coastal shipping. Thereafter, the rail route would be used to take it to beneficiary thermal power plants.

Parsa Kanta was allotted to Rajasthan Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (RUVNL) during the first round of coal block allocation by the Centre in 2015. The mine developer and operator (MDO) for the said coal block is Adani Mining.

A ports, shipping and waterways ministry official confirmed that the state has raised the demand, however, a vessel has not been chartered yet, as there are congestion issues in the railway route between Kandla and Rajasthan as well, and deliberations are currently underway to resolve them. The railway network emanating from Gujarat sees heavy commercial traffic with Kandla Port, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones’ largest containerised port in Mundra, and Pipavav Port operating there.

Between April and August, Deendayal Port has seen a 12 per year-on-year growth in traffic at 58.6 million tonnes (mt). Meanwhile, issues of rake availability from railways have been persistent at the Paradip Port as well. Earlier in the financial year, the national transporter was able to provide only 33 rakes per day for unloading at Paradip Port, while the port had a capacity of 46 rakes, with plans of expansion to be able to unload 57 rakes per day.

This comes even as both demand and supply of coal have receded from May, when railways had to cancel more than 1,000 train trips around the coal belt to prioritise movement of coal in the middle of a nationwide power crisis. In September, the national transporter 48 mt of coal, much lower than its loading of 65 mt in May.

Sources aware of the developments said that one of the reasons for the congestion could be increased focus on passenger operations, as this time of the year typically sees higher movement in mail and express trains in view of the festive season.

Meanwhile, coastal shipping is being seen as an important step at the highest levels of government towards optimising logistics and reducing India’s carbon footprint. An Asian Development Bank report has projected the potential of coastal shipping to reach 340 mt by 2024-25. In 2021-22, cargo handled through RSR was 130 mt.

The shipping route

Rajasthan will utilise the Sagarmala route for the move­ment of coal for the first time

CIL will load coal at Paradip Port from Talcher in Odisha using railways

Then it will move till Deendayal Port Trust (Kandla Port) in Gujarat through coastal shipping

The rail route will take it to beneficiary thermal power plants
 

Why it is important

The move comes as current supply pressures and heavy monsoons have choked several busy stretches of railways

Railways cancelled over 1,000 train trips around the coal belt to prioritise movement of coal during nationwide power crisis

ADB report projects the potential of coastal shipping to reach 340 mt by 2024-25, from 130 mt 2021-22