The Hindu Business Line : Rlys turns down Paradip Port's plea for allotment of more rakes

THE Railways is believed to have turned down Paradip Port Trust's (PPT) plea for allotment of more rakes for transportation of iron ore from the mines to the port.

Right now, on an average, 75 rakes are allotted a month (2.5 rakes a day), but PPT wants the figure stepped up to 100 at least. "We actually need more, about 135 rakes a month or 4.5 rakes a day to handle the targeted 4.5 million tonnes (mt) in the mechanical berths," according to PPT sources.

The argument of the Railways is simple: it will place only as many rakes for movement into the port as will be required for backloading. For efficient utilisation of the rolling stock, the Railways is opposed to evacuation of the empties out of the port.

Currently, there is clearly a mismatch between the volume of iron ore moving into the port for exports and the volume of imported coking coal arriving at the port for backloading, with the exports being much larger in volume than the imports. The Railways, it is learnt, might consider making available some BCN wagons but PPT is not too keen to have them, as the productivity of these wagons is very poor.

The immediate implication of the Railways' decision is that there will be much larger road transportation of the ore to the port for exports, giving rise to a host of problems such as congestion and pollution. But then, PPT is helpless. With exports burgeoning, the throughput this fiscal, it is estimated, will be eight mt against six mt in 2003-04.

With the Railways providing rakes only for transportation of 2.5 mt, the balance 5.5 mt will be transported by road with predictable consequences.

Normally, the ore transported by rail is handled mechanically for ship loading purposes, while that by road is handled manually. Since the bulk of the ore traffic from the mines is transported by road, the mechanical berth also handles part of the road-borne traffic, much to the chagrin of the port authorities.

Meanwhile, PPT has clamped some restrictions on the iron ore exports on receipt of complaints of certain irregularities. Henceforth, only those exporters having plots within the port area for stocking the materials prior to exports will be given priority in matter of shipments.

There are 60 such exporter-cum-plot-holders. However, those having no plots but claiming to have cargoes for exports may also be considered for shipment purposes, provided they have a firm arrangement with some plot-holders and the port authorities are convinced of the genuineness of the arrangement.

Also, such arrangements will be allowed to continue till March 31, 2005. From April 1, only exporters-cum-plot-holders will be allowed to undertake shipments through the port, it is learnt.