The V O Chidambaranar Port Trust has witnessed a record 8.65 per cent rise in the number of containers it handled during the last fiscal.
Port Trust Chairman I Jeyakumar said the port registered a record throughput of 6,97,631 Twenty foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) of containers in 2017-18 as compared to 6,42,103 TEUs handled in the same period last year.
Shipment of limestone, timber logs, clinkers and palm oil contributed to the spurt in container handling, he said.
On the total cargo handled by the Port, there was a marginal drop to 365.83 lakh tonnes in 2017-18, as compared to 384.63 lakh tonnes clocked during same period of last year.
Coastal cargo handled in 2017-18 saw a 33.1 per cent rise to 99.72 lakh tonnes from 74.92 lakh tonne registered during the same period of the previous year, Jeyakumar was quoted as saying in a press release.
The number of ships visiting the Port dropped by 10.83 per cent to 1,482 ship calls in 2017-18 as against 1,662 registered during the same period of last year.
"The fewer vessels illustrate that much of the cargo coming into the port was through larger ships", he said.
On the financials, he said the net surplus after tax for 2017-18 remained flat at Rs 117.88 crore as against Rs 117.72 crore registered during year ago period.
Operating income for 2017-18 went upto Rs 622.75 crore from Rs 597.93 crore registered during the year ago period.
On the initiatives taken by the Port Trust, he said they were in the process of installing ambient air quality monitoring stations and also involved in commissioning of truck mounted high pressure water mist fog machines.
"We have made considerable progress in the last financial year to efficiently handle cargo at the Port.We have chartered clear plans to move forward to meet the challenges that lie ahead", he added.
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