Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port Kolkata breaks record in cargo handling, registers around 15 per cent growth
Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port (SMP Kolkata) breaks record in cargo handling, reporting a 14.74 per cent growth during the first 10 months of the year, ahead of the national average.
According to the statement of Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port handled an all-time record cargo traffic of 54.254 million tonne (MT) during April 2022 to January 2023, compared with 47.282 million tonne in the year-ago period.
SMP Kolkata Chairman P. L. Haranadh said that Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port ranked 5th in cargo handling amongst Indian Major Ports during April 2022 to January 2023 vis-a-vis its ranking of 6th during April 2021 to January 2022.
Kolkata Dock System (KDS) handled 14.092 MT of cargo in April 2022 to January 2023 in comparison with 12.533 MT during April 2021- January 2022, registering a growth of 12.44 percent.
SMP Kolkata is expected to handle more than 65 million tonnes of cargo by the end of 2022-23 against 58.175 million tonnes of cargo handled during 2021-22.
The ministry said, between April 2022 and January 2023, SMP Kolkata handled rail-borne traffic of 28.823 MT (KDS-4.92 MT, Haldia Dock Complex (HDC)-23.903 MT) against 24.974 MT (KDS-4.91 MT, HDC-20.064 MT) in April 2021 to January 2022, registering a growth of 15.41%.
In the first ten months of fiscal year 2023, 1221 rakes were received and 1249 dispatched at KDS; at HDC, 5293 rakes were received and 5300 were dispatched during the same period.
Major commodities which attributed to this growth of traffic enabling SMP Kolkata to achieve this feat, include LPG, vegetable oil, other liquid, manganese ore, iron and steel, pulses, coking coal and container at Kolkata Dock System, while POL (crude), LPG, other Ore, coking coal, non coking coal, fly ash and lime stone at Haldia Dock Complex.
Haranadh said, “This success has been achieved due to growth of diverse cargo, arrival of new and additional cargo coupled with multi-faceted user-friendly measures like better services, improved facilities, cost-effective and customer-friendly charges and all-out efforts of the employees of the port.”