As for the port performance, vessel calls at the Calcutta Dock System (CDS) went up by 5.03 per cent -- from 417 to 438 -- during the same period.

Similarly, vessel calls at the Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) increased from 479 to 520, a rise of 8.56 per cent.

During April-August 1998, CPT ranked second in terms of absolute growth and fourth in respect of percentage growth in traffic among the major Indian ports. The major ports, on the other hand, recorded an aggregate average fall in traffic of 1.12 per cent during the same period. Although CDS registered a 14.38 per cent growth in cargo traffic, HDC recorded a fall of 1.16 per cent.

The growth in traffic of raw materials for fertiliser, coking coal, vegetable oil and other liquid cargo at Calcutta Port was higherthan the average growth registered by major Indian ports.

Handling of raw materials for fertilisers in the Calcutta Port went up by 41.22 per cent. The growth at CDS was 52.38 per cent while at HDC it was 39.09 per cent. These are against the average growth of 11.9 per cent registered at the major ports nationwide.

HDC handled 12,17,000 tonne of coking coal compared to 11,58,000 tonne in the first five months of 1997-98, an increase of 5.09 per cent against 1.76 per cent registered by the major ports nationwide. However, compared to the first five months of 1996-97, coking coal handling at HDC fell by 9.31 per cent during the first five months of the current fiscal. Vegetable oil traffic at CDS increased by 14.65 per cent and other liquid cargo 9.90 per cent, out of which CDS recorded a negative growth of 21.74 per cent. The average growth in the major ports nationwide in vegetable oil and other liquid cargo was 2.98 per cent.

However, CPT as a whole showed a negative growth in handling crude petroleumand petroleum products. At HDC, handling of crude petroleum fell by 1.15 per cent to 18,00,000 tonne and that of petroleum products by 9.34 per cent to 20,09,000 tonne. At CDS, product handling declined from 9,91,000 tonne to 8,97,000 tonne, a fall of 9.48 per cent. The fall in crude handling during this period at HDC was due to the routine shutdown of the Haldia Refineries of Indian Oil Corporation. Iron and steel exports from HDC registered a growth of 17.24 per cent which also confirms that the Indian steelmakers are concentrating more on exports. Log and timber traffic at CDS showed a spectacular growth of 57.89 per cent during the period. Average pre-berthing detention time decreased at CDS from 1.15 days to 1 day, while at HDC from 2.67 days to 1.03 days. Average turn-round time decreased from 7.36 days to 6.74 days at CDS and from 6.49 days to 4.06 days at HDC.