Mundra Port handles 50 mn tonne cargo in FY11

Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone, an Adani Group firm, today said it handled 50 million tonne of cargo in 2010-11, making it the seventh largest port in terms of annual cargo handling volume in the country.

"The cargo volumes at the Mundra Port, have leaped from 11.7 million tonne in 2005-06 to over 50 million tonne in 2010-11, a compounded annual rate of growth of a whopping 34%. In the same period the maritime trade of the country grew at a rate close to 8.5%," the company said in a statement.

The company expects to handle 80 million tonne of cargo in the current financial year and aims to cross 100 million tonne mark by 2012-13, it added.

"This will make Mundra the preferred port of call by 2012-13, handling highest cargo volumes among Indian ports." the statement further said, adding that "it has emerged as the seventh largest port in terms of annual cargo handling volumes for FY11."

The privately owned port has 13 berths for handling bulk, liquid and container cargo, two single point mooring units, a RO-RO terminal for automobile handling and a fully automated 60 million metric tonne dedicated coal terminal with two berths.

The company is also developing six more berths for handling bulk/container cargo and is enhancing capacity of coal terminal to 100 million metric tonne, the statement said.

The Mundra Port handles large variety of cargo including crude oil, petroleum products, chemicals, edible oil, coal, fertilisers, steel, containers and automobiles.

"With Mundra Port's world class infrastructure, best operational practises, proactive and customer friendly management, we are aiming at handling 200 million tonnes of cargo volumes by 2020 at ports managed by the company," Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani said.

The company currently operates ports at Mundra and Dahej and is developing port at Hazira and coal terminals at Marmugao and Vishakhapatnam. All three plant terminals are expected to be operational by 2013.

Scrips of the company were trading up by 4.40% at 1340 hours on the Bombay Stock Exchange, at Rs 146.95 apiece from the previous close.