The Hindu Business Line : Paradip port bullish on prospects of traffic growth

“In six years, between 2002-03 and 2008-09, the port’s traffic throughput nearly doubled, from 23.9 mt to 46.41 mt,” Mr Raghuramaiah recently told Business Line over phone from Paradip, attributing the growth to user-friendly environment created through increased capacity both for handling and storing cargo, mechanisation of operation, better connectivity, general buoyancy of the economy and capping it all, a positive approach to work among all sections of employees.

Paradip port, as the Chairman pointed out, has attracted in the past few years many new types of cargoes such as exports of iron and steel and gypsum and imports of project cargo, raw sugar, cement clinker and crude.

“For the first time, the port started handling imported crude in 2008-09,” he said.

The port’s cargo handling capacity increased from 56 mt to 71 mt, and is likely to rise further to 110 mt by 2011-12.

This would be possible, he explained, because of the construction of several new berths in the coming years including a coal berth, ore berth, oil berth, two multipurpose berths for handling clean cargoes and one RO-RO jetty.

Navigable channels

Mr Raghuramaiah gave another reason why he was so bullish about the prospects of traffic growth at the port.

The deepening of the navigable channels, now in progress at an estimated cost of Rs 253.36 crore, would be complete in March 2010, making it possible for the port to handle large Capesize vessels, i.e. 1,25,000 dwt capacity each.

In 2008-09, Paradip port handled 46.41 mt of traffic as compared with 42.22 mt in 2007-08, thus registering 9.36 per cent growth as compared with an average 2.13 per cent traffic growth in all major ports in the country.

“In terms of traffic growth last year, we were number three among all major ports,” he said, adding, “we hope to handle 56 mt in the current fiscal”.

Award

Meanwhile, New Delhi-based The Institute of Economic Studies has conferred on Paradip Port Trust the ‘Gold Medal Award’ for its excellent performance and on its Chairman, Mr K. Raghuramaiah, ‘Bharatiya Siromani Puraskar’. The awards were presented at a function in New Delhi, presided over by Mr B.L. Singh, Governor of Sikkim.