Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT), the premier port in the country registered 6.5 per cent growth in revenue earnings and 3.7 per cent growth in cargo traffic during the just ended fiscal compared to preceding year.

“In 2002-03, a significant thing happened. VPT achieved hat-trick in cargo handling by achieving the top slot during the past three years in succession,” he announced. During the just concluded fiscal year, VPT handled 46 million tonnes of cargo as against the target of 44.4 million tonnes set by the ministry of shipping, he said.

VPT handled 44.68 million tonnes and 44.34 million tonnes of cargo during the years 2000-01 and 2001-02 respectively. This led to VPT enjoying the number one status among all the major ports in the country continuously for the last three years, he said.

In 2002-03, the port handled 103 lakh tonnes of iron ore and iron pellets, 66.67 lakh tonnes of coking coal, 30 lakh tonnes of thermal coal, 169 lakh tonnes of petroleum products and 64 lakh tonnes of other cargo, he said. The port created several national records in cargo handling, he added.

The port spent Rs 51 crore on developmental activities and proposed to spend Rs 52 crore on various capital works during the year 2003-2004. It privatized the container terminal to United liner agencies, and this terminal will be ready by June.

Once this facility is ready, the container traffic will go up to 1 lakh twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) with in one year from the existing 20,000 TEUs, he said. “We are creating additional facilities and at the same time we are taking steps to utilise the existing facilities at maximum capacity,” he added.

During the year, the port achieved 40 per cent reduction in inventory and 15 per cent reduction in power consumption, 22 per cent reduction in water consumption, and 8 per cent reduction in fuel consumption, which resulted in saving of crore of rupees, he stated.

On several parameters, VPT is far ahead of other major ports in the country, Tamil Vannan said. The second highest cargo handled port is Kandla, which had handled only 40.5 million tonnes, where as VPT had handled 46 million tonnes, so the difference is 55 lakh tonnes, he said.