A sharp drop in the handling of iron ore fines due to the ban on the movement of iron ore by the Karnataka Government has impacted the total traffic handled at New Mangalore Port during 2010-11.

The port, which handled 35.52 million tonnes of cargo during 2009-10, handled 31.55 mt during 2010-11.

Mr P. Tamilvanan, Chairman of New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT), told Business Line that the port handled 3.9 mt less compared to 2009-10.

“This is because of the shortfall in the handling of iron ore fines. From 5.4 mt of iron ore fines in 2009-10, we handled 0.9 mt during 2010-11,” he said.

However, handling of iron ore pellets at the port witnessed a growth of 44.30 per cent at 2.17 mt (1.50 mt). (KIOCL Ltd has a pellet plant at New Mangalore).

CONTAINERS

Mr Tamilvanan said the total containers handled at the port crossed the 40,000-mark during the year.

The port handled 40,158 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers during 2010-11 against 31,456 TEUs in 2009-10, recording a growth of 27.66 per cent.

LPG

LPG cargo witnessed 17.52 per cent growth at 1.91 mt (1.63 mt) during 2010-11. .

CRUDE

The port handled 12.39 million tonnes (12.75 million tonnes) of crude oil, and 6.74 million tonnes (6.59 million tonnes) of POL (petroleum, oil and lubricant) products for MRPL (Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd) during 2010-11.

MRPL is one of the major users of NMPT.

New Mangalore Port handled 7.83 lakh tonnes (8.20 lakh tonnes) of fertiliser cargo and 2.83 mt (2.79 mt) of coal cargo during 2010-11.

The port was successful in attracting as many as 14 cruise vessels during 2010-11 against only four vessels in the previous fiscal.

As many as 5,854 passengers (2,180 passengers) from various countries touched the port during the year.

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