For the second successive month, Paradip Port Trust posted more than 41 per cent growth in traffic throughput, the highest among all major ports. In May, the port handled 5.74 million tons (mt) as compared to 4.04 mt in the same month of the previous year, thus, posting a 41.96 per cent growth. In April, the growth was 42.74 per cent at 5.82 mt (against 4.07 mt in April 2012). The total traffic handled in the first two months (April-May) of the current fiscal, thus, comes to 11.56 mt, as compared to 8.11 mt in the same period of the previous year, or an increase of 42.35 per cent. This was again highest in the country and shows an increase of 6.56 per cent over the target fixed for the period.
According to sources in Paradip Port, in first two months of the current fiscal, the port’s iron ore throughput a growth of more than 329 percent at 7.65 lakh tons, against 1.78 lakh tons handed in the same period of last year, thus, holding out the promise of a revival of iron export, which has been dwindling for the past couple of years. The other items, whose throughputs too increased during the period, included fertiliser raw materials, which posted a 49.3 per cent growth at 6.1 lakh tons, thermal coal (47.33 per cent rise at 4.3 mt), coking coal (23.87 per cent increase at 1.03 mt) and POL traffic (22.26 per cent jump at 3.44 mt). A record volume of 40,613 tons of pyroxenite was imported in May, surpassing the previous best of 36,500 tons in January 2012, add the sources.