Visakhapatnam Port Authority (VPA) has handled over 80.5 MMTPA (million metric tonnes per annum) of cargo as of March 27 in the 2023-24 fiscal, according to a release here on Thursday. It has surpassed last year’s record of 73.75 MMTPA.
VPA chairman M. Angamuthu said that petroleum, oil and lubricants and crude volumes were up by 27%, iron ore by 12%, fertilizer by 6%, handling of many baby cape vessels up to 43 metres beam, and 35% growth in the number of vessels handled at the port, were some of the reasons behind the achievement.
The Visakha Container Terminal (VCT) reported a 28% increase in box volumes to reach 6.65 lakh TEUs (ten equivalent units), 68% improvement in pre-berthing detention and 8% improvement in idle time at berth are some other reasons.
VPA registered month-wise highest tonnage cargo handling in the months of May, June, October 2023 and January 2024.
Some of the records it achieved in the fiscal included the handling of 4,03,978 million tonnes in 24 hours on January 19. The port also signed 19 MoUs during the Global Maritime India Summit (GMIS) 2023 that happened in the present fiscal.
