Essar Ports company raises bar on Paradeep port terminal

Rs 565 cr invested to expand capacity four-fold to 16 mtpa

Essar Bulk Terminal Paradip Ltd (EBTPL), an Essar Ports company, has delivered operational excellence at the CQ3 terminal of the major port on several key parameters.

With an investment of Rs 565 crore, the company has ramped up the capacity of the berth from four million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 16 mtpa. In 2010, EBTPL was awarded the 15-year license to mechanise and operate the CQ3 terminal from Paradip Port under the mechanisation programme being undertaken by the Ministry of Shipping. 

The mechanisation includes installation of two reclaimers of 2,500 tonnes per hour (tph) capacity each, one ship loader of 5,000 tph capacity and a 9.15-km cross-country single belt mechanised conveyor of 5,000 tph capacity. The conveyor is one of its kind and passes through challenging terrain, including industrial, port-prohibited and marshy land, creeks, railway and electricity lines, and public roads.

EBTPL has been turning around large parcels of cargo load since its commissioning of the CQ3 terminal in 2012. Berthing in close coordination with the Paradip Port Trust (PPT), the system is able to load the vessel in record time with a turnaround in under two days. EBTPL has also been able to deliver an average productivity of 80,000 – 90,000 tonnes per day for vessels. 

The company has also received appreciation from PPT for loading 100,000 tonnes equivalent in a day, with a peak load rate of 4,500 tph. This is the highest loading rate achieved till date at the Paradip Port for iron ore/pellets.

EBTPL’s anchor customer is Essar Steel. The terminal is used extensively to load the pellets, produced at Essar Steel’s six-mtpa pellet plant in Paradip, onto vessels headed to the company’s Hazira Steel Complex, where the pellets are used in steel manufacturing. This mechanism has helped in checking pollution caused by road transportation and compliments the coastal shipping initiative of Ministry of Shipping.

As of October-end, EBTPL’s cargo-handling capacity stood at 2.37 mtpa, marking a 20 per cent rise over the corresponding period last year.