Iron ore, coal lift Essar Ports’ cargo handling by 11% in Q3



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Essar Ports Ltd (EPL), a private port terminal operator in India, on Tuesday reported an 11 per cent increase in overall cargo handling at 9.16 million tonnes (mt) across its Hazira, Salaya (both in Gujarat), Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Paradip (Odisha) port terminals for the quarter ended December 31, 2017.

This was 11 per cent up from 8.26 mt a year ago, led by substantial growth in iron ore, coal, limestone and finished steel transportation, with third-party accounting for 16 per cent share in the overall cargo, the company said in a statement.

For the nine months ended December 31, 2017, the company registered 16 per cent growth in overall cargo at 26.5 mt compared to the same period last year, while third-party cargo handling rose by an impressive 36 per cent to 4.26 mt in the same period last year, Rajiv Agarwal, CEO, EPL, said.

The company recently commissioned a 20 mt bulk terminal in Salaya and will soon complete expansion of the Vizag Terminal, taking its annual handling capacity to 24 mt, thus taking the cumulative cargo handling capacity to 90 mt by the end of FY18. The Salaya terminal has been designed to berth Capesize vessels with a vessel turnaround time of less than two days, thus offering a competitive advantage to the local industry.

Essar Vizag Terminal Ltd (EVTL), a recently commissioned 8,000 TPH (tonnes per hour) ship loader, which has increased its cargo handling rate from 70,000 TPD (tonnes per day) to 120,000 TPD, is expected to significantly increase revenues. The increased cargo handling will also translate to shorter turnaround times and competitive freight costs for exporters on the east coast. Following the commissioning of the expansion project, the facility will also be able to berth vessels up to 200,000 DWT, with a depth of 18 metres, on the outer harbour of Vizag Port.

Source: THE HINDU BUSINESSLINE