The New Mangalore Port witnessed a decline of 11.49 per cent in cargo handling in the first six months of 2019-20. The port handled 17.86 million tonnes (mt) of cargo in the first half as against 20.18 mt in the corresponding period of 2018-19.

Replying to a query on the performance of the port, on the sidelines of ‘Swacchta Pakhwada’ of New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) on Tuesday, AV Ramana, Chairman of NMPT, attributed this decline to factors such as the shutdown of MRPL (Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd) refinery units for some days during the period.

He said water scarcity in Mangaluru had forced MRPL to shut-down some units in the refinery complex.

The refinery was also shut-down during monsoon as there was landslide in its premises. He said the cargo handling has come down by around 11 per cent due to a drop in crude intake by MRPL.

Added to this, the road connectivity between NMPT and the hinterland was affected for some days because of floods and landslides in the region during the monsoon.

Stating that the figures will be made up by March 2020, Ramana said: “We expect to handle 43-44 mt of cargo by the end of March 2020. Whatever hit we had is a temporary hit.”

Dredging survey

To a query on dredging, he said the survey for dredging activities in the port will be completed in another three days. The DCI (Dredging Corporation of India) dredger from Visakhapatnam will reach the port soon. The dredging is expected to start from the middle of October, he said.

NMPT undertook ‘Swacchta Pakhwada’ from September 16 to October 2 to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The event will conclude on October 2 with a walkathon, followed by beach cleaning at Panambur, he added.

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