AHMEDABAD: Essar Ports, on Friday, said it recorded a 12% growth in cargo, including a 32% rise in bulk cargo, in the first quarter of 2017-18, ended June 30, 2017, as compared to the same period last fiscal. The company handled a record 19.62 million tonnes (mt) of cargo (17.57 mt) during the review period, according to a press release here. For dry and unit cargo, a significant 32% growth was recorded. This growth in traffic at the company’s three dry bulk ports in Hazira, Paradip and Vizag, came on the back of heightened activity and capacity utilization of Essar Steel, which is Essar Port’s anchor customer. The overall growth in traffic was also helped by the 60% increase in third-party cargo volumes during the quarter.
The Essar dry bulk terminal at Paradip Port surpassed past benchmarks to record 131% growth in cargo handling. In Gujarat, Essar Port at Hazira recorded a growth of 26%, handling 5.48 mt of dry and unit cargo as against 4.36 mt in Q1FY17. At Vadinar, the company recorded a decrease of 1%, handling 10.38 mt of liquid cargo (10.49 mt). At Paradip and Vizag, Essar Ports recorded an impressive performance of 131% and 21% in dry and unit cargo, Rajiv Agarwal, CEO & MD, Essar Ports, said. Essar Port’ current handling capacity of 140 MTPA is being expanded to 194 MTPA over the next few years. The company currently has five operational port terminals at Hazira, Vadinar, Paradip, Salaya and Visakhapatnam.
