Coal news and updates

Vizag Port sees dip in imported coal handling in FY16

April 2: Vizag Port Trust expects its handling of imported coal in 2015-16 to decline marginally as there is a possibility of lesser imports by nearby power plants as some of them have been recently awarded captive coal blocks, a senior port official told ICMW.

“With the dredging and availability of berthing facility for Panamax vessels, we had expected that handling of imported coal would go up. But now, with the Government of India auctioning the coal blocks, the trend might not be so. Imports of steam coal and coking coal may come down in the current fiscal, as domestic coal will be available to the end-users, especially the power sector,” he said.

Meanwhile, the port handled around 58.02 million tons (mt) of cargo in 2014-15, slightly less than 55.5 mt of cargo handled in the previous fiscal.

“We have lost around 2 mt of cargo due to Cyclone HudHud in the month of October last fiscal,” the official said.

Ongoing project work as well as a slump in iron ore handling have also affected the port’s cargo traffic during the fiscal, the official added.

Vizag Port is also facing stiff competition from its neighboring ports of Paradip and Krishnapatnam where container cargoes have been diverted, he said.