WASHINGTON: VO Chidambaranar port in Tuticorin handled record cargo volume of 36.85 million tonnes (MT) in the financial year 2015-16. It surpassed the previous year’s 32.41 MT by 13.70 per cent. The port also surpassed the Shipping Ministry’s target of 36.80 MT by 0.14 per cent, says a press release.
The increase in cargo handling was possible due to growth in volume of import cargo like coal, fertiliser, copper concentrate, containerised cargo, lime stone, liquid ammonia and POL products. On the export front, there was increased handling of construction materials, containerised cargoes, caustic soda lye, machinery and fly ash.
Out of the total handling, imports accounted for 27.37 MT, a 14.09 per cent increase over the previous year’s 23.99 MT. Exports were 9.48 MT (8.42 MT), an increase of 12.59 per cent. The release said that the port handled 14.80 MT of coal, a growth of 7.25 per cent. In terms of financial performance, the port reported an operating surplus of 312.33 crore while the net surplus before tax stood at 167.91 crore, the release said.
In container handling, the port handled a record throughput of 6.12 lakh twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2015-16 as against 5.60 lakh TEUs in the previous year, an increase of 9.29 per cent. Meanwhile, container terminal operator PSA Sical Terminals Ltd, a joint venture between PSA India and Sical Logistics, achieved its highest ever monthly throughput of 50,225 TEUs in March 2016. It was for the first time that the terminal crossed the 50,000 TEU monthly milestone,said a release from the operator.
