Continuing its growth trajectory, Visakhapatnam Port Trust has set in motion several projects to remove ‘pollution’ tag attached to it and to become an eco-friendly port. VPT Chairman M.T. Krishna Babu, who is credited with launching aggressive marketing effort by offering discount in handling charges to the users to withstand competition thrown up by private ports , said their focus is now to maintain the growth momentum and initiate stringent anti-pollution measures.
The port has already engaged a consultant to finalise the designs for a centralised covered storage facility for coal in 2.5 lakh square ft. IIT-Madras experts are now conducting the study. Covering stacking areas and trucks carrying cargoes with tarpaulins have been made mandatory. Regular sprinkling has been made compulsory for all berth operators.
Another bottleneck identified during a study taken up by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) was with regard to evacuation of cargo. Hence, the port is expediting road-over bridges and flyovers from the Visakha Container Terminal to the Convent Junction and from there to connect to a dedicated bypass road for the trucks to the main highway.
Steady growth
Maintaining a steady growth, the port has achieved a net surplus of ₹250 crore during 2017-18 as against ₹45 crore in 2016-17. The opening surplus also went up from ₹385 crore to ₹538 crore with an increase in traffic by 4% during the just-concluded financial year. The elevation of the port in all-India ranking from fifth to fourth by handling 63.54 MT during 2017-18. .
Santosh Patnaik
