Krishnapatnam Port’s cargo handling rises 25% in FY18



Source: FINANCIAL EXPRESS

Krishnapatnam Port Company (KPCL), the largest all-weather deep water port on the east-coast, has handled 45 million tonne (MT) of cargo in 2017-18, achieving a 25% growth over 36.10 MT handled in the last fiscal, and has set a target to achieve 55 MT in the current fiscal. The company witnessed a record 88% rise in the number of containers it handled at 4,81,400 TEUs against 2,55,439 TEUs in the last fiscal. The total bulk cargo handled by the port stood at 37 MT. Krishnapatnam Port, promoted by the Hyderabad-based CVR group, is a privately built and owned all weather, deep water port on the east coast of India, located in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh.

The port with a transit storage area of 6,800 acres has the country’s largest waterfront area of 161 sq km, and a depth of 20.5 metres. Its current draft of 18.5 metres can accommodate full-sized cape vessel of 200,000-tonne capacity. KPCL was formed by winning the mandate from the Andhra Pradesh government on a build-operate-share-transfer concession basis for 50 years, and is being built in three phases, and currently, the second phase is underway.

Despite the industry slowdown, Krishnapatnam Port registered an overall growth of 25% in cargo handled, much higher than the average growth rate of 4.79% clocked by the Indian major ports. Coal, iron ore and granite dominated the cargo portfolio handled by the port, Anil Yendluri, director and CEO said. It has set a target to achieve 52 MT in bulk and two lakh TEU in containers this fiscal. “We have planned a total investment of $3 billion of which $1.23 billion has already been invested for development till date with second phase of expansion underway,” he said. The company has invested `8,000 crore for the first and second phases so far.

Source: FINANCIAL EXPRESS

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