The Hindu Business Line : Paradip port may curb coal rake arrivals

Paradip Port Trust (PPT) may restrict coal rake arrivals owing to huge accumulation of ground stock. Coastal shipments of coal through the port have dropped, swelling the stock position to more than seven lakh tonnes.

The bulk of the accumulation, an estimated four lakh tonnes, has been caused by poor lifting of coal by Karnataka Thermal Power Corporation.

Another three lakh tonnes of stock has been built on Tamil Nadu Electricity Board account, it is learnt. Thermal power generation in these states has dropped due to adequate hydel generation following good rainfall.

PPT receives on average 1.2 to 1.5 coal rakes a day on KTPC account. East Coast Railway, responsible for transporting thermal coal from the Talcher mines of the Mahanadi Coalfields to Paradip port for shipment via the coastal route, has been asked to slow down the movement for KTPC, it is learnt. The port authorities are yet to restrict rakes bringing in coal on TNEB account; however, they may be forced to revise the decision if the present situation persists.

Vessels needed

The coal for KTPC is generally carried in Handymax vessels while Panamax vessels are used for transporting coal on TNEB account. As the Shipping Corporation has scrapped Rani Padmini, the 73,000-dwt bulk carrier that was hitherto engaged in transporting coal between Paradip and Ennore, the number of vessels available for coal transportation on the route has also declined. Poompuhar Shipping, which handles TNEB's shipping operation, has still not nominated a vessel to replace Rani Padmini, it is learnt. Gem of Ennore and Sridevi are, according to reports, available for operation on the route.

PPT on average handles nine rakes of coal a day for coastal shipment and most of these, about seven rakes, are on TNEB account; the remaining two rakes are divided between KPCL and Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Board. In the present situation, a cutback on the daily throughput is likely.