Vizag Port records highest growth rate among major ports

The Vishakapatnam Port Trust has recorded a growth rate of 10% for this fiscal year despite the economic slowdown and weak market conditions. The VPT is currently at the fourth spot among the major ports of India. The first three spots are held by the Kandla Port, Paradeep Port and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trusts. It is expected that if the VPT continues at this growth rate, it will overtake JNPT to the third spot.

The Vizag Port is one of the 13 major ports of India. It is located on the eastern coast in Andhra Pradesh. It was operationalised in 1933. The port handled about 65.30 million tonnes of cargo during the last fiscal (one of its highest). In 2010-11, it handled an even larger volume: 68.04 million tonnes of cargo. Recently, it overtook JNPT in the volume of cargo handled. Some of its cargo agreements are:

• End-to-end logistic solution for thermal coal supply to Tamil Nadu’s Electricity Board.
• Iron ore supply agreement with Japan from NMDC and MMTC.
• A 2.4 million tonne increase in petroleum products cargo.
• 0.5 million ton increase in container cargo shipment because of transshipment to Nepal.
• 1 million tonne increase in coking coal shipment.