• Bulk and unit cargo grows by 52%
• Liquid cargo grows by 11%
• Third-party cargo traffic increases by 60%
Essar Ports has recorded a 25 percent growth in cargo traffic in FY 2016-17.
The consolidated cargo handling across the company’s five operational ports in Hazira (Gujarat), Paradip (Odisha), Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Salaya (Gujarat) and Vadinar (Gujarat) rose to 72.86 million tonnes in FY 2016-17, compared to 58.27 million tonnes in the previous fiscal. Third-party traffic grew by 60%.
Dry and Unit cargo
The growth in Essar Ports’ dry bulk cargo has been a remarkable 52% at 30.39 million tonnes in FY16-17 as compared to 19.97 million tonnes in FY15-16. The anchor customer of Essar Ports’ dry bulk terminals in Hazira, Paradip and Visakhapatnam is Essar Steel.
The 30 million tonne Hazira Bulk Terminal manages dry bulk, break bulk and project cargo for Essar Steel’s 10 million tonne Hazira Steel Complex. The terminal is being expanded to 50 million tonnes capacity.
The 16 million tonne dry bulk terminal in Paradip handles pellets for Essar Steel. The 16 million tonne terminal at Visakhapatnam handles both iron ore and pellets for Essar Steel, NMDC and other major steel players. It is being expanded to 32 million tonnes.
The substantial growth in cargo traffic at these ports indicates the heightened activity and capacity utiliation at Essar Steel.
Liquid cargo
Essar Ports’ Vadinar Oil Terminal, which receives crude and dispatches finished products for Essar Oil’s 20 million tonne Vadinar refinery in Gujarat, recorded a growth of 11% of liquid cargo. It recorded a throughput of 42.47 million tonnes in FY16-17 compared to 38.30 million tonnes in FY15-16.
Commenting on the performance, Mr Rajiv Agarwal, CEO & MD, Essar Ports, said: “I am delighted with the robust growth in cargo traffic across our ports and terminals in FY17. I am especially happy about the remarkable growth in bulk cargo because that is where the future lies. We expect higher growth in the coming years because of increasing capacity utilisation by our anchor customers and heightened economic activity in the country.”[/vc_column_text]
