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| Shortage of rail racks may hit Vizag port handling target |
| VDS Rama Raju / Chennai/ Visakhapatnam Aug 06, 2009, 00:54 IST |
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Visakhapatnam port is finding it difficult to achieve its cargo handling target due to shortage of rail racks. In the current year as on date, the port handled about 20.5 million tonnes of cargo, which is about 700,000 tonnes less compared with the last fiscal.
“The port is seeing more vessels this season. However, since all our stockyards are full with cargo, there is no space to stock cargos like iron ore and coal and others,” said KSD Dattu Raju, traffic manager, Vizag Port.
The problem, he said, cropped up due to short supply of rail racks by the railway department for the last few weeks
Though the port officials have requested for 14 rail racks a day to evacuate the outbound cargos, they get only 7-9 racks from the railways. This has led to over 2 million tonnes of cargos like iron ore and coal lying at open stock yards.
About 35 vessels currently are waiting for berthing at the port. “We have modern mechanised facilities for quick unload of cargos, but due to this problem we are not in a position to berth the vessels,” Raju said.
According to port sources, the railways used to supply sufficient racks to the Vizag port but with the commissioning of the Gangavaram port, racks were now being shared by both the ports, thereby resulting in short supply.
When contacted, the railway department officials said, “Due to shortage of racks we are unable to supply sufficient racks to the Vizag port. We would, however, increase the supply once the situation improves.”
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