The Paradip Port continued to be the premier gateway port in the east coast of the country with registering a cargo handling growth of 6.13 per cent. The port handed 52.50 MMT cargos by December 18 against 49.56 MMT during corresponding period of previous year, 2014-15.
The traffic handled by the PPT during the financial year is the second highest amongst all Major Ports.
The logistic cost of the cargo imported / exported through Paradip Port has been reduced. It handled 1061 cargo vessels by December 11, 2015 against 960 vessels during the corresponding period of the last fiscal.
Even though the number of vessels handled in the Port has been increased along with quantity of cargo handled, the berth occupancy has been reduced from 76.46 per cent to 68.21 per cent for the higher ship-day productivity achieved during the period.
While around 20 vessels were waiting in the anchorage for berth last year, the number of such waiting vessels have been drastically come down to 2 - 3 vessels this year. This has saved precious foreign exchange to the nation.
The Port has implemented productivity norms for the vessels handled in the mechanised coal handling plant and other general cargo berths from August 2015 and rolled out penal charges for inefficiencies in the mechanised coal berths from November, 2015.
As an attempt to improve “Ease of Doing Business”, the Paradip Port addressed several issues related to the cargo handling operation for providing the importers and exporters the freedom to select their stevedores / service providers. Resultantly, the Port has witnessed a significant improvement in efficiency during the third quarter of the current year (up to November), claimed the Port authorities.
As a part of capacity augmentation programme, the Port has contemplated to develop an outer harbor to handled vessels up to 22mtrs draft for large capsize vessels up to 2,50,000 DWT.
The Port has taken up a host of activities under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Under the “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” initiative, it has distributed 3.533 kits containing schoolbags, notebooks and geometry boxes to the girl students of Government Schools and schools in slum areas during the FY 2015-16.
Similarly, the Port has spent `2.11 crore during FY 2014-15 in various activities under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan like construction and maintenance of school /college toilets, public toilets, maintenance of public parks and gardens and for road cleaning.
It has targeted to spend `2.59 crore under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan during the current fiscal.
During the year, the PPT Hospital reduced charges for medical facilities to the public to `10 per patient (for OPD) and `20 per patient (for Specialist) from `30 and `50, respectively.
The PPT Chairman has expressed his gratitude to Shipping Ministry, Odisha Government and the Indian Railways, particularly East Coast Railway, and all concerned for their contribution for the remarkable achievement of the Port on efficiency.