Coal news and updates

Decline in coal imports impacting stevedoring firms

The fall in coal import volumes is affecting the business of stevedoring companies, especially those operating in the ports on the east coast, an industry source told ICMW. 

“There is a conspicuous slump in the business of handling and transporting coal. In the eastern ports where we operate, till a few months back there used to be a number of vessels waiting for unloading operations. Nowadays, you hardly see a queue,” the source said. 

The situation is more of less the same at ports like Haldia, Kolkata, Paradip and Vizag, he said. 

To tide over the situation, the stevedoring companies are focusing on efficiency gains. “We are planning to bring in new equipment like floating cranes which will ease operations and result in efficiency gains,” he added. 

The major decline this year has come in the non-coking coal segment, the source said.

According to data available with ICMW, imports of non-coking coal through Haldia/Kolkata increased marginally during April-December, 2015 on a yearly basis, but the same dropped by around 29% at Paradip and Vizag ports.

Source: ICMW