The Hindu Business Line : Mundra port handles 2,200 ships, 38 mt cargo

A file photo of the first consignment of Maruti Suzuki’s small cars waiting to be flagged off for export to the European markets at Mundra port in Gujarat.

Our Bureau

Ahmedabad, April 1

The country’s largest multi-product port at Mundra, developed by the Adani Group, handled around 2,200 vessels and approximately 38 million tonnes of cargo volumes across all segments during the financial year 2008-09.

Last year (2007-08), the Mundra port had handled 1,624 vessels and 28.79 million tonnes of cargo, a company official said here on Wednesday.

Automobiles

The new terminal, having an automobile terminal operating system (TOS), developed and implemented within nine months after signing of agreement with Maruti Suzuki for car exports, also commenced operations in January 2009.

In the last three months ending March 31, the port exported 18,211 cars. With a 57-km-long dedicated rail line, it also handled close to 4,500 rakes in the last fiscal.

The highest number of rakes handled in a single month was 459, in December 2008 when it also handled the highest number of rakes, 15, in a single day.

Rail rakes handling

In another record, the loading and releasing of a rail rake with 64 wagons for coal took 95 minutes in January 2009.The highest amount of coal loaded in a day, 57,525 tonnes, was on March 31, with 15 rakes in a 24-hour cycle.

The port purchased a new locomotive engine with 3,100 HP capacity and also started container train operation from northern India to Mundra, with six container rakes.

Among the dry cargo it handled was the Delhi Metro coaches in March. The first export from Mundra SEZ unit, Thermax Ltd, was the first boiler export, the heaviest cargo of 220 tonnes, in February 2009.

The highest quantity in handling of fertilizer cargo (5.18 lakh tonnes) was in November 2008. The port handled the largest container vessel, m.v. CMA CGM Baudelaire (300.40 m long), on February 2, 2009 and acquired the first in the new fleet of 70 tonnes bollard pull tugs to cater to the UPPX container vessels. Five more tugs are on order.

Crane productivity

The container terminal handled nearly 10 times more vessels in 2008-09 and the number of container liner services increased to 11 in 2008-09. It achieved the highest gross crane productivity of 55.24 (moves per hour) mph for one crane on m.v. Taban on March 14.

Even its average crane productivity of 33 mph is the highest in the country.

In liquid cargo, the highest single month volume handled was 2.2 lakh tonnes in February 2009.

It simultaneously handled six tanker vessels on February 1 and laid a vegetable oil pipeline alongside the railway line and loaded the first rake via the new pipeline in March 2009.