Essar Ports handles 18.27 mn tonnes cargo in July-September

Essar Ports (EPL) today said its cargo handling grew by 35 per cent to 18.27 million tonnes (MT) in the July-September quarter this fiscal from 13.55 MT in the year-ago period.

"Third-party cargo handling has risen by 106 per cent to 1.03 MT in July-September compared to 0.5 MT in the same period a year-ago. Over the quarter, the various terminals of the company handled 209 ships as against 179 ships in the corresponding period last year," EPL said in a statement.

The robust performance in the quarter under review has been driven by significant operational improvements and better cargo support from anchor customers, it added.

EPL Managing Director, Rajiv Agarwal, said: "Our performance is a reflection of the efficient operations at all our ports and faster vessel turnaround times. We are gradually enhancing our capacity utilisation, which is backed by the improved operational performance of our anchor customers." This year, the firm's assets are not only demonstrating enhanced operational parameters like the berthing of bigger ships, but also showing their technical prowess by undertaking project execution that is synchronised with the operations, he added.

The company's performance for H1 2016-17 also reflects consistent operational improvements. The total cargo handled for the first half this fiscal rose by 33 per cent at 35.37 MT compared to 26.54 MT in H1 2015-16.