Coal news and updates

New Mangalore cargo handling down 10% y-o-y in July

August 12: Cargo handling by New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) fell 10.47% in July 2014 to 3.25 million tons (mt) against a volume of 3.63 mt cargo handled in the same month of 2013, a senior official from the port told ICMW.

On a cumulative basis, the port’s total cargo handling for April-July, 2014 stood at 12.41 mt, down from a volume of 12.88 mt cargo handled in the same period of 2013-14.
Total cargo handling at the port during the month of July 2014 pulled down mainly because of lower coal handling by the port as Udupi Power Corporation Limited (UPCL), one of the major clients of the port, curtailed coal imports significantly, the official said.

Of the total cargo handled by the port in July 2014, coal’s share stood at 0.659 mt, down from 0.900 mt handled in July 2013.

“UPCL is not importing more than one or two vessels of coal per month as it is not utilising its full capacity because of the on-going dispute with electric supply companies in Karnataka,” the official said.

UPCL has been fighting with the power companies in Karnataka over several Central Electricity Regulatory Commission issues and in June 2014 it stopped power generation for almost two weeks citing lack of money to buy imported coal.

UPCL imports steam coal from Indonesia through NMPT.  In financial year 2013-14, NMPT handled 2.8 mt of coal for UPCL.