The Krishnapatnam port in Andhra Pradesh set a new record in the Indian ports sector by discharging 1.22 lakh tonnes of coal in 24 hours using the conventional unloading system.
MV Cohiba, carrying 1.61 lakh tonnes of coal for JSW Steel Ltd, berthed at the port at 5.30 a.m on August 6.
The port had earlier discharged 1.06 lakh tonnes of steam coal in July last year.
The Krishnapatnam Port Container Terminal, the container business arm of the port, is gearing up to handle new scheduled calls beginning this month. The terminal, last month, added four gantry cranes of Keppel Fels and new mini-bagging machines, installed new hopper and conveyor systems in warehouses and built new sidings to handle the bulk cargo at the port, a company statement said.
The Krishnapatnam port, developed and operated by the $5-billion Navayuga Group, is executing a Rs 4,000-crore phase-II development programme.
The port, which has five multi-purpose berths with a draft of about 15 million tonnes (mt), handles a little over 16 mt, as against the phase-I installed capacity of 25 mt.