The Hindu Business Line : Paradip Port sets 28 mt throughput target

Which means, it proposes to handle an additional three m.t. during the whole year, or 2.5 lakh tonnes a month on an average. The target, which PPT has set for itself is slightly higher than what the Ministry of Shipping has set for it for the current fiscal, it is learnt.

"Judging by the performance in April, when the throughput was 2.4 m.t. as compared to 2.12 m.t. in April last year, it should be possible to achieve the targeted throughput in the current year barring of course unforeseen developments," said a spokesman for PPT.

In April, the throughput of iron ore was 5.5 lakh tonnes

(3.51 lakh tonnes) and thermal coal 10.81 lakh tonnes (8.99 lakh tonnes).

To achieve the targeted additional throughput of three m.t. in the current year, PPT, as it was pointed out, was pinning a great deal of hope on iron ore (exports), thermal coal (coastal movement) and coking coal (imports).

The iron ore traffic was projected to rise by one m.t. to seven m.t., thermal coal by about 1.5 m.t. to 11.5 m.t. and coking coal by 0.8 m.t. to three m.t.

The availability of coking coal in the world market being uncertain, port authorities are not sure if the targeted throughput would be achieved. An attempt, therefore, would be made to make up the shortfall, if any, in coking coal traffic by stepping up throughputs of other items. The POL (products) traffic, for example, is projected to rise to 1.8 m.t. in the current year from last year's 1.4 m.t. Last year's POL (product) throughput at 1.4 m.t. represented a drop of 45 per cent over the throughput of 2002-03.

The optimism for higher throughput for the current year is based on that fact that PPT authorities would soon start handling POL traffic at its newly-constructed oil jetty. Right now, the oil traffic is handled in the south quay, which has been hit by congestion problem in view of the overall pressure of traffic in the port.