The Hindu Business Line : Fall in Haldia coal shipments to Ennore, Tuticorin ports

Shipments of thermal coal from the Haldia dock to Ennore and Tuticorin ports to meet the requirements of the power plants of the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board have been steadily declining over the years, according to the Kolkata Port Trust sources.

Slowdown

In 2003-04, the throughput was 3.19 million tonnes (mt), which dropped to 3.16 mt in 2004-05, improved a little to 3.41 mt in 2005-06 but again declined to 2.44 mt in 2006-07 and further to 1.79 mt in the next year (2007-08).

Between April and July of the current fiscal (2008-09), the throughput was 0.68 mt as compared to 0.94 mt in the same period of the previous year, thus registering a drop of about 27.5 per cent.

The throughput, it is feared, will further drop in view of the steadily deteriorating navigability of the Hooghly River near the dock.

Right now, the average parcel load of a thermal coal ship at Haldia is around 16,000/17,000 tonnes as compared to 30,000 tonnes a few years ago.

Navigability issues

Unless the navigability is improved through whatever means, the shipments of thermal coal from Haldia to Tamil Nadu ports might totally stop, apprehend the sources.

While poor navigability of the river is certainly a major issue, there are other factors as well.

For example, the production of coal in the mines of Eastern Coalfields Ltd and Bharat Coking Coal Ltd have not always been too satisfactory with the result, the supplies from these mines have often been erratic.

No wonder, the TNEB discovered alternative sources of supply including imports, without depending heavily on shipments through Haldia.

Meanwhile, there has been a poor growth of traffic at Haldia so far in the current fiscal.

Between April and August this year, the total throughput was 18.76 mt as compared to 18.62 mt in the same period of last year, thus posting a meager 0.73 per cent growth.

However, in August alone, there was a drop of about four per cent in throughput — 3.62 mt in August as compared to 3.77 mt in the same month last year.