Essar Ports aims to handle 55 mn t cargo

Essar Ports aims to handle 55 million tonne (mn t) of cargo in 2012-13 compared to 40 mn t it had handled in
the previous fiscal.

It may be noted that the port recently commissioned a 16 mn t per year dry bulk terminal at Paradip Port for handling iron ore mainly for its group company Essar Steel and dry bulk cargo for third party contracts.

The project involved the upgradation and mechanisation of the existing 230 m long CQ3 berth at Paradip with installation of a fully mechanised ship loading system with a capacity of 5,000 tonne per hour.

With this, the company has a total cargo handling capacity of 105 mn t, which it aims to raise to 158 mn t by 2015.

It is learnt that the port completed around 80 percent of the expansion project to take its capacity to 158 mn t and it would be investing another Rs 1,500 crore for the remaining work.

At the recently concluded Vibrant Gujarat summit, the port signed an agreement with the state government to expand capacities at the Hazira and Salaya ports.

It aims to invest Rs 10,000 crore over the next 10 years in these two ports. The company will construct 5 berths at Salaya to handle liquid, solid bulk and container traffic and increase the water front at Hazira by 3 kilometer (km) as part of the agreement.