The Hindu Business Line : Paradip port: Transport operators call off strike

AFTER nearly one-and-a-half months, the road transport operators engaged in ferrying iron ore from the mines to Paradip port for exports have withdrawn their strike following a settlement with exporters. The settlement, it is learnt, has been reached at a lower rate of Rs 1,000 per tonne compared to Rs 1,700/1,800 per tonne paid by exporters previously.

The reason for a low-level settlement is not difficult to find. The boom in iron ore shipment having petered out, the throughput has dropped. With the slump in international prices, the fly-by-night exporters have virtually disappeared. As Paradip Port Trust sources point out, the daily arrival of iron ore trucks has dropped to 1,500 on an average from the earlier 3,000. "We are now releasing 1,200 trucks a day on an average as against 2,000 previously," observe the sources.

There are other factors also. The restrictions clamped on various local authorities on the movement of iron ore trucks, particularly at night too has hit transportation. Capping it all, the heavy rains, which have virtually paralysed all activities in and out of the port for the past several days.

In July, the port handled a lower volume of traffic at 2.38 million tonnes (mt) compared with 2.66 mt handled in the same month last year, thus registering around 10 per cent decline. The iron shipment at 5.8 lakh tonnes (9.58 lakh tonnes in the same month last year) recorded a drop of about 40 per cent. The throughputs of coking coal were down 44 per cent at 2.21 lakh tonnes (3.95 lakh tonnes); fertiliser raw materials were 11 per cent lower at 1.84 lakh tonnes (2.48 lakh tonnes); and containerised cargo dropped 35 per cent to 2,104 tonnes (3,264 tonnes.

However, the throughputs of thermal coal at 10.91 lakh tonnes (8.49 lakh tonnes) registered a rise of 28.5 per cent; POL traffic at 69,000 tonnes (63,000 tonnes) was up eight per cent; and other items at 2.79 lakh tonnes (1.82 lakh tonnes) a rise of 31 per cent.

Between April and July, the port cumulatively handled a total of 10.24 mt (9.51 mt), thus posting 7.64 per cent growth. The throughputs of all items, save fertiliser raw materials, posted growth during the period, added PPT sources.

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