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Indian Farmers Fertilizers Cooperative Ltd (Iffco ), which has a diammonium phostphate (DAP) plant at Paradip, expects its proposed captive barge jetty to boost sales.
The jetty estimated to cost Rs 150 crore is planned to be set up at Kaudia near Iffco’s plant The jetty would enable Iffco to have access to many coastal villages not connected by the rail network.
“If we build a captive jetty, we can send fertlisers to many villages on the coastlines of Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Currently, we are unable to cater to their demand because of the unavailability of rail network,” said a senior official of Iffco’s Paradip unit.
Though Iffco has a dedicated jetty inside the Paradip Port to send and receive its cargo, the new facility would help the company to earn additional income by exploring new markets. Moreover, it would pave the way for raising production capacity to three million tonne per annum (mtpa), from the existing two mtpa.
“The captive jetty will ensure fast movement of finished products from our facility along the coastline areas. Further, we could go through the canals and rivers to send our orders for farmers villages residing near river embankments. There is huge sales potential for such markets, but we are unable to tap it at present,” said the company official of the company.
The application to build up a captive jetty is currently pending with the state commerce and transport department. The state government has plans to forward the proposal to the Planning Commission of India to provide consultancy service for the development of the jetty, sources said.
The proposed jetty will have the initial capacity to transport 60,000 tonne of phospogypsum every year. The company has provision to upgrade the capacity to 120,000 tonne a year in the second phase.
It will be designed to cater to small vessels only having 2,000 tonne carrying capacity.
While Iffco will build the barge jetty at its own cost, it would engage builders across the east coast to develop barges for delivery of fertilisers. The small vessels will use rivers and canals to meet the demand of the farmers, the official informed.
Iffco presently relies on the rail and road network for sale of fertilisers in Odisha and other states. It has already proposed to use the National Waterways 1 (connecting Allhabad to Haldia) for transportation of fertilisers from its Allahabad plant.
