Multi-cargo approach boosts Mormugoa Port Trust output by 25%

Despite being hit by a ban on iron ore mining, the Mormugoa Port Trust (MPT) reported a 25 per cent increase in cargo throughput in 2014-15 at 14.71 million tonne on the back of multi-commodity approach, the port said today.
Its cargo handling had slipped to 11.74 metric tonne in 2013-14, which had dwindled from a peak of 50 metric tonne in 2010-11, primarily due to the ban on iron ore mining.
"The port has since staged a remarkable turnaround from being a mono-commodity port to being a multi-commodity port by adding a wide range of cargo to its kitty," it said in a statement today.

The port has now shifted focus on other commodities which include coal, coke, fertilisers, wood chips, steel products, granite, bauxite, petroleum and other chemicals which now constitute 90 per cent of total tonnage handled at the port.
Exports accounted for 3.33 metric tonne or 23 per cent of the cargo handled, while within the 11.38 metric tonne of imports, coal and coke occupied a lion's share with 82 per cent share.
Having achieved growth by broadbasing commodities, the port also announced a slew of expansion projects. These include deepening of the approach channel for an undisclosed sum, a Rs 520- crore conversion of mechanical ore handling plant to handle general cargo which will be carried out as a PPP project and a Rs 100-crore liquid bulk handling project.

The port will also undertake a Rs 15 crore dry port project, constructing a general cargo berth by investing Rs 210 crore, build a berth for defence services at a cost of Rs 395 crore and develop two general cargo berths at a cost of Rs 250 crore at the Vasco Bay.