The Hindu Business Line : Spurt in coking coal arrival at Paradip port

THE sudden rise in the arrival of imported coking coal at Paradip port, caused by Steel Authority of India's purchase , has created problems for all the agencies concerned, namely the Railways, the port authorities and the public sector steel giant.

The Railways is hard put to meet the demand for the additional rakes within a short notice. As a result, the material is piling up at the port premises. SAIL, faced with the problem of railway movement, has decided to change its logistics plan.

According to informed sources, there is a plan to place an additional 10 rakes at Haldia this month. At the same time, fewer rakes will be placed at Paradip than originally planned for the month. Given a choice, SAIL perhaps would have liked to import more ore through Haldia because of the docks' proximity to its steel plants. The Railways too, it is felt, will be happy to see more of its rakes confined to movement within a single zone. But the poor navigability of the river creates all the problems. Large ships with full load cannot call at the dock.

The problems facing the Railways is understandable. Unless it gets matching cargo for inward movement into the port, it does not feel enthused to place wagons (i.e. empties) only for cargo movement out of it (i.e in one direction). The BOBR wagons, which bring thermal coal to Paradip for coastal movement, could not be used for evacuation of the imported coking coal because these are dedicated wagons shuttling only between coal mines and the port. There are no facilities available at the end of the steel plants to unload these specialised wagons. Some quantities of thermal coal, of course, are brought to the port by BoxN wagons, but with production of the Talcher mines having dropped, fewer BoxN wagons with thermal coal are arriving at Paradip. The coal companies are reportedly sending much lower volumes than stipulated in the linkages. The issue, therefore, is likely to come up at the coal linkage committee's meeting due to be held in Bangalore shortly.

Alternatively, the wagons bringing in iron ore for exports through the port could be used for evacuation of imported coking coal. However, the iron ore exports have virtually collapsed with the result, not more than two rakes a day are arriving at Paradip. The present demand for rakes for coking coal evacuation is estimated at more than three rakes a day on an average.

More Stories on : Shipping | Coal | Steel

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Cess to boost regional air connectivity?

Travel agents, airlines to meet again on July 29

Shipping industry stepping up campaign for tonnage tax regime

Spurt in coking coal arrival at Paradip port — SAIL to change its logistics plans

IRDA restores special discount on marine hull

XPS Cargo to enhance fleet strength in Kerala

Railways to get Rs 2,000 cr more from Centre

Plea for Tuticorin-Coimbatore train

Pvt bus operators plan stir in Kerala