Paradeep Port cargo throughput up 7% in 2015-16

Paradeep Port Trust (PPT) has logged its all-time high cargo throughput of 76.38 million tonne (mt) in 2015-16, registering a growth of 7.57 per cent over FY 15. PPT has retained its second slot among all major ports, next only to Kandla port in terms of total volume of cargo.

Cargo growth was driven mainly by thermal coal traffic (23.76 mt) and POL (20.56 mt). Rail cargo handled by PPT stood at 48.51 mt, 8.52 per cent higher than 44.70 mt handled in 2014-15. The port handled 12129 rakes, marking a growth of 9.67 per cent compared to the year-ago fiscal.

PPT shipped a record 2.33 mt of iron ore pellets during 2015-16, surpassing the previous best of 1.63 mt achieved in 2014-15. The port also handled 0.42 mt of cargo in a single day in March this year, going past the previous record of 0.4 mt.

During 2015-16, the berth day output has achieved 21,139 tonne as against 17,736 tonne which translated to 19.18 per cent. The turn round time of ships has reduced to 4.5 days from 7.01 days for the last year with an improvement of 35.80 per cent. Similarly, the pre-berthing detention has also reduced to 49.09 hours from 98.69 hours with an improvement of 50.26 per cent. By improving the port efficiency parameters, PPT has handled 1561 ships during 2015-16 as against 1476 during previous year with a reduced berth occupancy of 66 per cent from 77 per cent.

PPT has declared a facility to handle baby Cape size vessels of 1,20,000 dwt (dead weight tonnage) by enhancing the draft to 14.5 metres at three berths.

In 2015-16, the port earned Rs1173.03 crore as against Rs1160.46 crore 2014-15. The net surplus after income tax stands at Rs 309.37 crore as against Rs 275.57 crore during previous year.

The port has taken up various projects to increase the capacity from existing 118.50 million tonne per annum (mtpa) to 325 mtpa by 2025, thereby becoming the highest capacity port in the country.

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