Coal news and updates

Vizag Port receives vessel with imported coal

Visakhapatnam Port Trust’s promise to ensure faster evacuation of cargo has attracted the import of coal in a cape vessel by Bhushan Power & Steel.

Merchant Vessel Silver Trade with a draft of 18 metres anchored at the Vedanta General Cargo Berth developed by Vedanta in PPP mode on Wednesday bringing cheer to the port community. The ship brought 1.5 lakh tonne of steam coal from South Africa.

“We are very happy with the assurance given by the port authorities for faster evacuation of cargo making use of newly created state-of-the-art facilities. This will help us in saving freight cost and strengthening our relationship with Visakhapatnam Port,” Bhushan Power & Steel president B.K. Gupta told The Hindu.

The capability of VGCB has recently enabled coal importers to maximise vessel sizes thus benefiting from economy of scale and reduced ocean freight. Further, the user-friendly initiatives of the VPT make Vizag Port an ideal port of choice. Ease of rail despatch adds to the overall logistics cost benefits and supply chain stability of major power and steel producers.

Mr. Gupta said Bhushan Power & Steel with a turnover of over Rs.11,000 crore was expanding the capacity of its plant in neighbouring Odisha, one of the largest producers of flat and long products on the Eastern seaboard, from 2.8 to 3.5 million tonne by March. It also finalised further expansion to 5.5 million tonne by 2017.

Coal requirement

The company imports coal from South Africa and Australia. Its current coal requirement is four million tonne and it will go up to six million tonne once it achieves five million tonne capacity. VPT Chairman M.T. Krishna Babu and Deputy Chairman P.L. Haranadh are making efforts to bring bigger vessels so as to reduce the freight cost of major clients. VGCB is the only deep drafted fully mechanised coal terminal located in the outer harbour.

“Our marquee berth draws a depth of 20 metres and can safely handle ships up to 200,000 DWT with an average discharge rates over 50,000 tonne per day,” VGCB CEO D.K. Manral said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com