Odisha: Paradip Port Surpasses 100 MMT Cargo Handling Mark for 7th Consecutive Year

 Bhubaneswar: Paradip Port on Wednesday announced to have once achieved 100 million metric tonnes (MMT) of cargo handling, in shortest time, in its history, showcasing the Port's unwavering commitment to excellence and efficiency in cargo handling.

The feat comes for the seventh time in succession.

“Paradip Port has once again repeated the feat by crossing the 100 MMT mark, seventh year, in succession. It achieved cargo throughput of 100.28 MMT on December 18, 2023. Notably, in Financial Year 2022-23, the coveted mark of 100 MMT was achieved on January 9, 2023. Thus, the record was achieved in 22 days in advance i.e. in 262 days in current fiscal against 284 days in last financial year, by exhibiting 9.64 per cent growth in total cargo throughput. Thus this century is the fastest by the Paradip Port Authority (PPA), in its history.

An official of the PPA said the port is poised to set an all time record cargo handling of more than 145 MMT in the current fiscal.

“Various system improvement measures, introduced by the Paradip Port during this year fuelled growth. Outbound iron ore and pellet has shown remarkable 69.03 per cent growth in comparison to previous fiscal. Last fiscal, it amounted to 10.56 MMT over the same time period, whereas till December 18, it stands at 17.85 MMT in current fiscal. Coastal Thermal Coal handling constitutes about 30.38 per cent of total cargo volume handled at the port,” the official added.

Shri Haranadh, the PPA chairman, gave credit to Union shipping, ports and waterways minister Sarbananda Sonowal for the achievement. Besides, he also congratulated all officers/employees, the user industries, stevedores, steamer agents, trade unions, port operators for such “amazing accomplishment.”

“The port has also registered remarkable improvement in the key performance parameters. Berth productivity stands at 32,689 MT per day per ship, which is the highest among all major ports of the country. The vessel turn-round-time is recorded as 42.01 hours (hrs) as against 47.60 hrs during the corresponding period of previous year. Similarly, pre-berthing detention is 1.18 hrs as against 1.73 hrs during the corresponding period of previous year.  Thus, Paradip port is emerging as a coastal shipping hub of the country and started coastal shipping of thermal coal to west coast, for the first time in history, i.e. Maharashtra based power plants. It further plans to expand coastal shipping of thermal coal to other regions in the west coast,” the PPA official said.