The Visakhapatnam port handled about 31.31 lakh tonnes of additional cargo during the first half of the current fiscal as compared to the corresponding period last fiscal. |
During the first half of the current year, the port handled 265.60 lakh tonnes of cargo as against 234.29 lakh tonnes during the first half of the previous year, posting a growth of 13.3 per cent. |
The growth is mainly due to an increase in iron ore exports and imports and export of petroleum products. The increase in import of coking coal and finished fertilisers too contributed largely to this growth, K S D Dattu Raju, traffic manager, Visakhapatnam port, told Business Standard. |
Vizag port is eyeing a 10 per cent growth by the end of this fiscal. During last fiscal, the port handled 500 lakh tonnes of cargo and we expect it to go up to 550 lakh tonnes this year, he said. |
During the first half of the current fiscal, the port exported 81.70 lakh tonnes of iron ore as compared to 73.79 lakh tonnes during the first half of 2004-05. |
"Export of iron ore to China increased notably because of the high handling rate at the port. Apart from the existing exporters, a few new exporters too have chosen Vizag port for ore exports during this year, resulting in an increase in ore exports by about 8 lakh tonnes during the last six months," Raju said. |
Handling of petroleum products also increased by about 5 lakh tonnes during this period. The port handled 67.50 lakh tonnes of petroleum products (including crude transshipment) in the first half of 2004-05, whereas it handled 72.42 lakh tonnes in the first half of the current year. The hike is the result of an increase in crude transshipment. |
Coking coal imports also increased by 5 lakh tonnes during this period. The port handled 36.65 lakh tonnes of coking coal during the first half of the current fiscal, as compared to 31.64 lakh tonnes in the first half of 2004-05, posting a growth of about 16 per cent, as compared to the same period in the previous year, he said. |
Apart from Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and SAIL, state-owned MMTC Limited has also started importing coking coal this year, he said. |