The Paradip Port Trust (PPT) on Monday strongly refuted the allegations made by certain service providers that arbitrary decisions of the port authorities have affected the port’s operations and threatened the very existence of the second best port in the country.
“Certain service providers, with a self interest to retain monopoly, have given a false picture and are thereby trying to distort the image of the port,” said an official release.
It said the information provided at a Press conference in Bhubaneswar alleging a conspiracy to cripple the PPT are totally false, misconceived and for diverting the attention from the monopolistic activities being practiced by certain service provider.
It informed that Port has handled 27.51 MMT of cargo between April 1 and Augusts 15 this year which is 8.55 per cent more than the cargo handled in the corresponding period of the last year. During the period a total of 614 ships came to the Port. The number of ships came during the corresponding period last year stood at 534.
It said the executive committee members of the Dumper Owners’ Association (DOA) have been categorically advised to increase the number of dumpers and give their best services to improve productivity.
On the allegations that nearly 1,112 workers under the Management Committee were not getting adequate work opportunities, it said despite the fact that the manual unloading of thermal coal is costlier than mechanized handling by wagon tippler, the Port administration discussed the issue with the exporters of thermal coal and persuaded them to give some rakes of thermal coal for manual unloading by these idling workers thereby creating an opportunity for earning by these workers.
The same is being continued despite the unwillingness of the exporters and even sacrificing the efficiency in port operations of mechanized handling of the wagons.
It said the allegation that Port allowed storage of 51,000 MT of cargo handled by Seaways at MPB beyond the berth capacity of 500 MT is completely false.
The PPT has taken up many initiatives under PPP mode to create additional capacities with modern handling facilities and also mechanizing the existing semi-mechanized berths to improve capacity and also to reduce pollution for sustainable environmental management. During the last 2 years, the Port Trust has taken up projects with an investment of Rs.1700 crores and also taking up further schemes with a proposed investment of Rs 2,600 crores. Paradip Port Trust is also planning to increase the draught from the present 14.5 metres to 18.1 metres to handle cape size vessels of around 2 lakh tonnes DWT to successfully compete with green field ports coming up in its vicinity. These initiatives will increase the capacity of the port from the present 108 MT to 270 MT per annum, it said.