Essar Ports terminal posts 20% rise in cargo handling

Ports and shipping

Essar Ports' Bulk Terminal in Paradip has achieved an average productivity of 90,000 tonnes per day, registering an over 20 per cent rise in cargo handling so far this fiscal.

The CQ3 terminal at Paradip Port, operated by Essar Bulk Terminal Paradip Limited (EBTPL), handled 2.8 MMTPA till November this year as against 2.3 MMTPA during the same period a year ago, a senior Essar Ports official said.

The terminal at Paradip Port has been turning around large parcels of load in "record time" since commissioning, the official said.

The system is able to load vessels with turnaround under two days, he said.

EBTPL, an Essar Ports company, has also received appreciation from Paradip Port Trust for loading 100,000 tonnes equivalent in a day, with a peak load rate of 4,500 tonnes per hour (TPH), the "highest loading rate achieved till date in Paradip Port for iron ore and pellets", he said.

EBTPL was awarded 15-year license in 2010 to mechanise and operate the CQ3 terminal from Paradip Port under the mechanisation programme undertaken by Shipping Ministry.

The company increased capacity of the conventional (manual) berth from 4 MTPA to 16 MTPA at a cost of Rs 565 crore.

The official said the terminal is used extensively to load pellets produced at Essar Steel's 6-million tonne Paradip plant onto vessels bound for its Hazira Steel Complex, where the pellets are used in the steelmaking process.

This has helped significantly cut down environmental pollution caused by road transportation, he said.