Paradip port to start marine products shipments in 2 weeks

Paradip Port Trust (PPT) has told Odisha’s seafood exporters it will start  shipments of marine products from September-end.

“The chairman of Paradip Port Trust has assured extension of all facilities, including a designated container yard for handling marine products and refrigerated container cargo,” Gorachand Mohanty, president, Seafood Exporters Association of India, Odisha region, told Business Standard.

A team of exporters had met PPT chairman Sudhanshu Shekhara Mishra and other port officials on September 6.

Earlier, seafood exporters were sending their cargo mostly through Vizag and Kolkata ports, as there was no container handling facility at Paradip. In 2011-12, exporters shipped 1,920 containers of merchandise through these two ports. While 70 per cent of these containers were routed through Vizag, the rest was sent via the Kolkata port. Odisha exports about 23,000 tonnes of marine products annually.

Mohanty said exporters would save Rs 10 crore on transportation costs if they use Paradip instead of Vizag or Kolkata. Besides, rotation of cargoes will be faster.

Paradip Port officials could not be reached for comment. Marine products from Odisha are in demand in Japan, the US and European countries.

The state’s seafood exports were valued at Rs 903 crore in 2012-13, an increase of 14 per cent over the Rs 792.75 crore in the previous year. Bhubaneswar was declared the city of export excellence for marine products in 2011 by the Union commerce ministry and textiles ministry.

Earlier, PPT had urged the Odisha government to make it mandatory for industries operating in the state to ship at least 50 per cent of their cargo through Paradip. The port aims to double its existing annual handling capacity from 102 million tonnes to 252 million tonnes by 2020, with emphasis on container traffic.