The Hindu Business Line : New projects boost iron ore carrying capacity of Railways

Kolkata, March 13 Indian Railways is geared to handle the increased volumes of iron ore to be required by the integrated steel plants by 2011/12 as several railway projects, mostly doubling of lines, are at various stages of construction in the iron ore belt of Orissa and Jharkhand.

Besides, introduction of 25-tonne axle load wagons, closed circuit rakes, high capacity locos, CC+8 scheme, high-speed Box N wagons, among others, will boost the carrying capacity of the Railways substantially. The integrated steel plants on their part too are revamping their own facilities to cope with the projected increase in traffic.

Giving this information here on Thursday, Mr G.K. Mohanty, Executive Director, Rail Movement, Railway Board, made it clear that for the Railways to provide assured services, the secondary steel producers, i.e., sponge iron and pig iron producers, must be prepared to load ore at less congested sidings while the promoters of large greenfield steel projects must make firm commitments about their requirements.

Consumer cooperation

The commitment has to cover the details of original destination flow of traffic and efficient management of loading and unloading terminals. Any delay on the part of the consumers would only lead to late planning and therefore, tardy implementation of rail infrastructure, he said.

Mr Mohanty, who was speaking on iron ore transportation for the steel industry at a seminar on Indian Steel Focus East organised jointly by mjunction and Bharat Chamber of Commerce, estimated the iron ore requirements of the steel sector at 200 million tonnes (mt) in 2011/12, up from 62 mt in 2006-07.

Mr Amal Dutta, Manager, Haldia Dock, Kolkata Port Trust, announced that from March 15, the vessels calling at Haldia dock with raw materials for steel plants like coking coal, coke and limestone, would be given priority berthing at two of the berths, 2 and 8.

Capacity ulitilisation

Also, the capacity of these two berths were being augmented to 10 mt from the present 4 mt annually through proper mechanisation. Right now the dock was operating close to its capacity which was not a healthy sign.

This being true also about the major ports in the country, the Union Government was trying its best to augment the capacity in the port sector such that the capacity utilisation did not exceed 70 per cent. “The ships must not wait for berths as the cost of detention is more than the port charges,” Mr Dutt observed.

Mr Dibyendu Bose, Managing Director of TM International Logistics, said 50 per cent of the world dry bulk shipping being related to the steel industry, the present boom in the steel sector contributed to the increased demand of the steel industry for additional shipping tonnage leading to the jump in dry bulk rates.

The high cost of fuel and congestion in loading ports too contributed to the present situation. With 87 per cent of the present Capesize and 45 per cent of Panamax capacity being on order, the tonnage availability would substantially rise in the next four to five years but whether this would lead to a drop in freight would depend on the growth of the world economy. Mr Bose, however, did not rule out some correction in present freight rates.

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