The Paradip Port Trust (PPT) is going to resume export of sea foods in near future, which was stopped for last several years. The sea foods were exported 15 years before by specialised deepfreeze ships and containers from Paradip.
PPT chairman Sudhanshu Sekhara Mishar has assured the Seafood Exporters’ Association of India, Odisha for extension of all facilities, including a designated container yard for handling marine products and refrigerated container cargo. The exports of the marine products are now likely to start by end of September, said port sources.
Because of the stoppage of exports from Paradip, the exporters of the sea foods were using Kolkata and Visakhapatnam Ports for their exports of about 23,000 tonnes of products per annum.
By using Paradip as the hub port instead Kolkata and Visakhapatnam, the exporters would save Rs 11 crore on transportation besides avoiding spoil of cargo during transport to the neighouring ports. The State’s seafood exports were valued at Rs 903 crore in 2012-13, an increase of 14 per cent over the Rs 792.75 crore in the previous year.
Bhubaneswar was declared the city of export excellence for marine products in 2011 by the Union Commerce Ministry and Textiles Ministry. Earlier, the PPT chairman had requested the Odisha Government to make it mandatory for industries operating in the State to ship at least 50 per cent of their cargo through Paradip. The port aims to double its existing annual handling capacity from 102 million tonnes to 252 million tonnes by 2020 with emphasis on container traffic.