Vizag port records 27% growth in iron ore exports

The burgeoning demand for iron ore in the international market, particularly in China and Japan, has ensured that iron ore exports from Visakhapatnam Port (VPT) have registered a 27 per cent growth for the April-February period of the current fiscal.

The growth in exports is attributed to private exporters in India who have over the last eight months been procuring iron ore from different mines in the country to meet their export obligations in China and Japan.

"As many as eight private exporting companies, in addition to public sector company MMTC Limited have been using the Vizag port for iron ore exports, because of the availability of mechanical handling facilities for loading and provision of berths for iron ore carrying ships. Due to the faster turn around achieved this year iron ore exports in Vizag port have reached a high," Dattu Raju, Traffic Manager of Visakhapatnam Port, told Business Standard.

During the last fiscal the Visakhapatnam Port had achieved total exports of 103 lakh tons of iron ore, whereas during the current fiscal by February end the port has already exported 108 lakh tons, posting a growth of about 27 per cent compared to last fiscal same period.

"Already several iron ore exporters have nominated their ore vessels to this port, so we are confident of handling more than 12 lakh tons of iron ore during the month of March," Raju said. Out of 108 lakh tons of iron ore exports, about 30 lakh tons were transported to the western coast of India and the remaining ore was exported to Japan and China, he stated.

Due to the mechanical handling facility and fewer breakdowns in the ore handling complex the port has on an average loaded 40,000 tons of ore per day.

On Monday a delegation from Japan's steel mills visited the Bailadilla Iron Ore mines and Vizag port. This delegation had discussions with the Visakhapatnam port chairman and other officials.

Members of the delegation from Japan suggested that the port improve the facilities for handling higher capacity ore vessels. At present the Vizag port has been accepting upto 1.5 lakh DWT (Dead Weight Tonnage) vessels in the outer harbour.

The Japanese delegation suggested that these should be improved to handle up to 2.5 to 3.0 lakh DWT vessels.