The Paradip Port has achieved a new record of handing 56.66 million tonnes (MT) of cargo till January 2014 by surpassing the annual traffic of 56.55 MT handled during the financial year 2012-13.
The port handled 56.66 MT of cargo till January 2014 in the current financial year compared to 46.61 MT during the corresponding period of the previous year. This is an increase of 21.56 per cent and is also 7.35 per cent higher than the target fixed for the period. In January 2014, the port handled 5.80 MT of cargo. Of this, 2.66 MT was exported and 3.14 MT imported through the port.
During the period in the current fiscal up to January, the thermal coal traffic has exhibited a growth of 20.28 per cent, POl traffic has increased by 9.49 per cent, iron ore traffic by 225.45 per cent, coking coal 34.70 per cent and other traffic by 12.39 per cent compared to the same period of the previous year. The Paradip Port has retained the second highest position in term of cargo handled and also in term of percentage of growth in traffic among all the Major Ports of the country.
The average turnaround time for January and up to the month has improved by 19 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively over the corresponding period of the previous year and 10 per cent over the target fixed for the year. The average berth-day output for the month improved by 21 per cent and up to the month by 11 per cent over the corresponding period of the previous year and 8 per cent over the target fixed for the year. As many as 1,213 vessels entered the port and 1,212 vessels sailed out till January of this financial year.