Iron ore exports come to rescue of VPT

21 November 2016

The fall in coal traffic has been compensated with surge in iron ore exports and has raised the hopes of Visakhapatnam Port of achieving the 61 million tonne target set by the Ministry of Shipping for 2016-17. The port, one of the major rendezvous for iron ore exports, during the first half received three million tonne of iron ore additionally compared to corresponding period last year.

According to Indian Ports Association, all the major ports are recording increase in iron ore traffic following resumption of mining in Goa and sorting out of court cases in Odisha.

During the first half except thermal coal which went up from 1.54 million tonne to 1.76 million tonne the Visakhapatnam Port received less quantity of thermal coal and steam coal compared to last year due to increase in production of domestic coal.

The thrust laid on domestic production following allotment of new coal mines has seen fall in import of coking coal from 2.72 to 2.19 million tonne and steam coal from 3.93 to 2.76 million tonne at the major port here during the period under review. Mr. Haranadh attributed the increase in iron ore exports to revival of long-term agreement at government-to-government level with Japan and South Korea and operation of pelletisation plant by Essar in the city to its full capacity of six million tonne for supply to its steel plant on the West Coast through coastal shipping.

Visakhapatnam is credited with having state-of-the art mechanised handling facility for iron ore handling. The Essar Ports is developing three iron ore terminals at Visakhapatnam Port under BOT basis with an investment of Rs. 845 crore. The terminals aimed at handling 23 million tonne are scheduled to be completed by May, 2017.

Besides freight advantage, discounts offered in demurrage and cut in waiting time due to improvement in efficiency parameters as advised by the Boston Consulting Group and the large quantity of iron ore exports being transported through Kottavalasa-Kirandul railway line by the NMDC from its mines in Bailadilla, Visakhapatnam Port is expecting to get substantial increase in iron ore cargo in future.

The freight advantage is due to increase in iron ore handling owing to modernisation from 2,000 to 2,500 tonne per hour to 8,000 tonne per hour.

Source – The Hindu