November 20, 2008

Mr TR Baalu reviews the performance of New Mangalore Port

The rail bound traffic in New Mangalore Port has grown by 105% YoY from 3.018 million tonnes in 2006-07 fiscal to 6.185 million tonnes in 2007-08 fiscal. There has also been a steady growth in container traffic which has risen by about 24% YoY in 2007-08 over 2006-07.

This was revealed at a meeting chaired by Mr Thiru TR Baalu union minister of shipping, road transport & highways which was called to review the performance of the New Mangalore Port.

Mr Baalu directed that in view of the growth in container traffic, steps should be taken to plan a container terminal at the New Mangalore Port. He said that preliminary discussions should be initiated with various oil PSUs and companies for exploring the possibility of setting up of an LNG terminal at NMPT.

He was also informed that the important scheme of capacity addition of five million tonnes to the port with the commissioning of deep draft multi purpose general cargo berth number 14 has been completed under the National Maritime Development Program. With a draft of 14 meters, this has enabled handling of vessels up to 80,000 DWT.

The traffic in the NMPT has grown from 32 million tonnes in 2006-07 to 36 million tonnes in 2007-08. The NMPT has taken up a number of initiatives to add infrastructure during the previous year. It has the second lowest manpower among the Major Ports after the Jawaharlal Nehru Port. Computerized bio metric fingerprint time attendance system for the Port workers has boosted the productivity in the port. A state of the art modern cruise lounge has also been set up in the port providing excellent facilities to the cruise passengers.

Mr Baalu directed the chairman of NMPT to take measures to further improve the ship berth day output in the Port to ensure that the manually handled cargo performance improves further. He also directed that measures should be taken to expedite the project for mechanization of cargo handling at berth number 14.