Coal news and updates

NMPT stresses on coal to meet shipping ministry target

May 14: New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) expects to handle around 2 mt more coal cargo in the current fiscal (2014-15), compared to that in 2013-14, a senior official from the port told ICMW.

"This year, the Ministry of Shipping gave us a target to handle 42 mt cargo and we are stressing on higher coal cargoes through the port to meet the target set by the ministry. We already had a meeting to come up with policies to increase coal handling through the port," the official added.

In 2013-14, coal imports through NMPT stood at 8.35 mt, up 20.83% from 6.91 mt coal handled in the previous fiscal (2012-13), according to port data. Total cargo handling of the port during the last fiscal stood at 39.36 mt, slightly above the target of 39 mt and 6.29% up from 37.03 mt cargo handled in 2012-13.

Agarwal Coal Corporation and Jindal Steel are some of the major companies that import coal through the port.