New Mangalore Port (NMP) handled 39.30 million tonnes of cargo during 2021-22 as against 36.50 million tonnes handled in the previous year registering a 7.66% growth, while the all India growth rate stood at 6.94%.
New Mangalore Port Authority (NMPA) Chairman A V Ramana informed reporters recently that 28.7 million tonnes out of the total throughput of 39.30 million tonnes were captive cargo handled by MRPL, UPCL, KIOCL, JSW and the remaining 10.59 million tonnes was non-captive cargo. The increase in cargo was due to increased handling of crude, POL products, coal, edible oil and containers.
The container handling has witnessed growth with the port handling 1,52,484 TEUs containers as against 1,50,445 TEUs containers handled in the previous fiscal. Bitumen handling (2.99 lakh tonnes) too was a record as against 2.06 lakh tonnes handled in the previous year. The port also handled 69,500 tonnes of new cargo — bulk industrial salt — in April 2021, he said.
Ramana said the port handled the highest parcel size during the fiscal when MV Great Qin called at the port on May 10, 2021, with 1.13 lakh tonnes of steam coal. The earlier record was 1,07,102 tonnes handled in April 2013. The port also handled five naval vessels carrying 370 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen in containers to combat Covid-19.
It also handled 1,521 TEU containers of raw cashew from Africa in June 2021 through MV SSL Brahmaputra-V.084. A record container traffic of 17,258 TEUs handled in June 2021 surpassed the previous record of 16,066 TEUs handled in March 2020 of containers ever handled at the port, he added.
Sagarmala project
The NMPA chairman said that with the Centre launching the Sagarmala project in 2016, NMPA was given 10 projects worth Rs 1,336 crore for port connectivity, modernisation, industrialisation and coastal community development. Of these, seven projects worth Rs 641 crore had been completed.
The completed works include the upgrading of platforms 2 and 3 in the Port Marshalling Yard; upgrading of railway lines 1 and 2 in the Marshalling Yard; construction of deep draft Berth 18 which was now numbered 16; installation of RFID tags for goods vehicles entering the port; stack yard and ancillary roads for parking Ro-Ro cargo; Mobile X-ray container scanner and mechanisation of Berth 16 on PPP for bulk cargo, he added.