The ministry of shipping has set a target of 336 million tonnes (mt) of cargo handling by all major ports in the current fiscal. This is despite the fact that the handling capacity of all the major ports is 363 mt. Shatrughan Sinha, the union minister for shipping, said here today.
The minister inaugurated the Rs 6-crore modern stacker at Ore Handling Complex (OHC) and also laid the foundation stone for the Rs 33-crore West Quay berth at Visakhapatnam Port.
Addressing a meeting on the occasion, he said that during the last fiscal all major ports had together handled 313 mt and miner ports 125 mt.
More From This Section
During the 9th plan period, the government spent Rs4,500 crores for ports development. Following this, the efficiency of major ports had gone up manifold, he noted.
Five years back on an average per berth per day out put was only 4500 tonnes, but last year it increased to 7000 tonnes, he cited an example. S R Rao, the chairman of Visakhapatnam Port, was present at the meeting.