 "APSEZ cargo handling rises 13% in April YoY, credits improved infra")
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ), India’s largest integrated transport utility, handled 32.3 million tonne (MT) of cargo in April 2023, growing 12.8 per cent year-on-year (YoY).
The Adani Group company said its growth was supported by dry cargo volumes increasing 9 per cent and container volume rising 13.6 per cent.
“Growth in cargo volumes across most of our ports reflects that our strategy of improving operational efficiency is delivering results and this will continue to boost the ROCE of port assets” said Karan Adani, chief executive officer and whole time director of APSEZ.
“I am also pleased to announce that Dhamra LNG Terminal berthed its first ship and the natural gas started flowing in the pipeline network connected to the terminal, well in line with our guidance of achieving the LNG terminal commissioning during the first quarter of FY24,” he said.
Four ports recorded significant sequential growth in monthly volumes. These include Krishnapatnam (5.2 MT or 22.6 per cent YoY), Dhamra (3.3 MT or 36.8 per cent), Tuna (1.15 MT or 57.6 per cent), and Katupalli & Ennore combined (1.7 MT or 13.3 per cent). Mundra Liquid Terminal handled its largest shipment of vegetable oil (soyabean) of 61,841 MT, surpassing the previous highest of 57,000 MT (palm oil). The company’s Gangavaram port handled its highest monthly rakes count (88) on account of handling coastal coal cargo for one customer.
Investments in rail infrastructure at company ports have been a catalyst for improved operational performance, said Adani. The Dahej port completed the extension of overhead electric lines, enabling it to handle rakes with electric locomotives of Indian Railways. With the commissioning of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) line till Dadri in April, the double-stack rake services from Integrated Container Depot (ICD) Dadri to Mundra Port will become operational.
WDFC will boost volumes at Mundra Port and total rail volumes for Adani Logistics. In April, total rail container volumes grew 22 per cent YoY to 47,122 TEUs (a cargo capacity unit) and bulk cargo (GPWIS) volumes jumped 40 per cent YoY to 1.4 MT.