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New UserOver-crowding at Paradip may hit coal-starved power plants
23 Sep 2014
Shortage of rail rakes at Paradip Port may hit fuel-starved power plants' strategy to import coal as about 3.5 million tonnes (MT) of cargo, mostly the dry fuel, has piled up against a normal capacity of 1.5 MT.
This congestion at Port has created a grim situation with half of the power plants in the country which are running on stocks of less than a week.
Coal imports are a key source for power units in view of recent Supreme Court order that termed coal block allocation method as illegal and arbitrary, posing a threat for 218 such blocks given to companies since 1993.
Paradip Port in Odisha is one of the major 12 major ports in the country serving eastern and central parts including power plants.
"Railways normally supply 15 N-boxes rakes to Paradip port to lift cargo but for quite some time it is giving barely 9 or 10 rakes a day resulting in overcrowding of cargo - about 3.5 MT including over 2 MT of coal," a source said.
The port has a capacity to keep 1.5 MT cargo at a time, the source added.
One N-box rake has a capacity to carry 3,850 tonnes of cargo.
The source said while there has been shortages of rakes, the railways which normally supplies 15 rakes a day, has sent five or six of these for maintenance.
Meanwhile, another source said power major NTPC, which sends ships for lifting of the coal, was not regular despite having a dedicated berth for it at the port.
Ordering and arrival cycle of ships by NTPC should adhere to the routine, the source added.
However, an NTPC official said there is no role of the company in coal evacuation from the port as it has already engaged a third party to lift the fuel and supply it to plants.
The overcrowding of cargo at the Port has spelt trouble for power companies which are hugely dependent on imported coal through Paradip Port.
In view of the "constrained" coal output scenario, the country imported 168.44 MT of coal last fiscal.
Consumption of coal during 2013-14 was 739.42 MT against the supply of 571 MT.
There has been unprecedented growth in traffic handled by Paradip Port in the past some years. It has got ambitious expansion programme to enhance its capacity up to 260.50 million tonne per annum (MTPA) by 2023 to meet the ever increasing demand.
The Port operations are carried out round the clock With annual cargo handling capacity of 108.50 MTPA.
Source: PTI