The Business Bytes
TBB BUREAU
BHUBANESWAR, APR 2, 2023
Driven by various system improvement measures, Paradip Port has handled a record annual traffic of 135.36 million metric tonnes (MMT) in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) against 116.13 MMT in the 2021-22 fiscal, while assuring port users of cheapest cargo and vessel related cgarges.
Addressing a press conference in Bhubaneswar on Sunday, Paradip Port Authority (PPA) Chairman PL Haranadh said that the Port also recorded the highest ever growth of 19.2 MMT i.e. 16.56 per cent of traffic in a single financial year in its history.
The growth in cargo handling achieved by Paradip Port is the highest among all Ports, both major and non-major, of the country, he added.
He further said that while the Port achieved highest ever coastal shipping traffic of 58.42 MMT, it also improved its berth productivity to 31,050 MT which is the highest among all the ports of the country.
The thermal coal coastal shipping has grown by 14 MMT i.e. 50 per cent in FY233 over FY22 cargo handling. Thus, the Paradip Port is emerging as a hub for coastal shipping in the country, said the PPA Chairman.
Haranadh further said that the Paradip Port has been able to improve its berth productivity to 31050 MT from 27295 MT of previous financial year, thus registering a growth of 13.76 per cent. The berth productivity achieved by Paradip Port is the highest among all the ports of the country, he added.
During FY23, the Port handled 20,126 numbers of rakes, registering a growth of 20.45 per cent over the year-ago period.
The improved system of operation at mechanized coal hand plant to reduce idle time between rake unloading has resulted in highest handling of thermal coal at MCHP i.e. 29.22 MMT.
Similarly, the engine on load system introduced for loading of railway rakes has reduced the rake turn round by approximately 17 per cent and enabled the port to handle 12.5 per cent of additional rakes.
During the financial year under review, the Port handled 2394 ships, registering an increase of 16 per cent over the previous financial year.
Stating that Paradip Port is the cheapest in terms of tariff among all the ports of the country, Haranadh said that Paradip Port, with 289 million metric tonnes capacity is poised to cross the 300 million metric tonnes mark in another 3 years with the commissioning of Western Dock project.
The PPA Chairman said that Paradip Port charges just Rs 13 per ton for vessels and Rs 185 for cargos, which are the cheapest charges not only in the country but in the world. Saying this, he added that the Paradip Port has frozen its tariff for cargo handling at the level of 2022 for next 3 years as a part of its business development initiatives.
The Western Dock project with 25 MMT capacity, which has been awarded to JSPL, would also increase the draught of the Port, enabling it to handle cape vessels by 2026, said Haranadh.
Paradip Port, which has mechanized 80 per cent of the berths as on date, plans to become fully mechanized by 2030 with the mechanization of the existing 4 semi-mechanized berths. The Port has also planned to add another 4 berths for which requisite approval will be taken during the current financial year, informed the PPA Chairman.
He further said that PPA plans to develop an exclusive berth for handling green ammonia and green hydrogen. Once executed, Paradip Port would become the hydrogen hub port of the country.
The Port also plans to improve the connectivity by commissioning two road flyovers within its premises at an investment of Rs.150 crore to avoid surface crossing of rail and road traffic. This will enable the Port to handle road traffic seamlessly.
Paradip Port rolled out NLP-Marine during FY23 which would enable all the customers to have integrated seamless provision of all services of the port on a single e-platform, as a part of its smart port initiative.
The Port is developing an ultramodern signal station with the latest vessel traffic management information system in association with IIT, Chennai which will improve the vessel management and marine operations substantially, apart from improving the security, said the Chairman.
As a part of its port lead industrialization initiatives, the Port has allotted 769 acres of land to various industries which will bring more than Rs.870 crores of investment and thus attracting 50 million metric tonnes of traffic to port.
The Port also plans to develop a 10 MW solar power plant to power the operations of the Port, totally by renewable energy. The Port is also planning to come up with green refuelling station by setting up LNG and CNG depot at the Port.
