Vizag port tops in iron ore handling

Visakhapatnam: The Visakhapatnam Port Trust has recorded highest iron ore and iron ore pellets traffic among all the major ports in the country.

The VPT handled 3.94 million tonnes of iron ore and iron ore pellets till July this year accounting to 59 per cent of traffic among major ports in the country in the category, VPT chairman MT Krishna Babu said.

During the current fiscal, up to July 2014, the Port handled traffic of 20.64 million tonnes as against 19.72 million tonnes handled during the corresponding period of previous year registering an increase of five per cent, he added.

Krishna Babu said that VPT has taken up ambitious projects to augment its capacity by new berths and modernizing the existing ones. The three PPP projects, Development of WQ (west quay)-6 berth for handling multi cargoes, EQ (east quay) -10 for handling liquid cargoes in inner harbour taken up with an estimated cost of Rs 170 crore are progressing and are expected to be operational by October 2014.

“Concession will be awarded soon for up-gradation of iron ore handling facilities at outer harbour and another project ‘Extension of existing container terminal’ concession agreement will be signed shortly. These projects are likely to bring an investment of Rs 1,479 crores,” he revealed.

With these above mentioned developments, over 90 per cent of the cargo handling operations at the port will be completely mechanised and the port will be able to handle higher volumes with enhanced efficiency besides providing a long lasting solution to the environmental problems. The developmental projects are taken up with the twin objective of developing world class port infrastructure and to eliminate environmental pollution.