Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) is on growth trajectory for fourth consecutive year, its Deputy Chairman P.L. Haranadh said on Thursday.
Hoisting the tricolour on the 73rd Independence Day organised at the Port Diamond Jubilee Stadium here, Mr. Haranadh said the VPT’s performance this financial year is encouraging.
Growth trajectory
“We have bagged the third position among major ports in India. During the first four months, a volume of 23.70 million tonne was handled when compared to 21.52 million tonne in the corresponding period of previous year, registering an incremental volume of 2.18 million tonne,” he said. This was more than 10% of the volume achieved by the port, the highest among all the major ports.
The port, Mr. Harnadh said, has also demonstrated notable improvements on the efficiency front. The output per ship berth day (OSBD) has increased to 14,654 tonne this fiscal current from 12,582 tonne of the previous year.
Average turnround time of a vessel has improved to 2.53 days from 2.67 days. Average waiting time of a ship has gone up to 1.25 hours from 1.39 hours of previous year.
Sagarmala project
Referring to the Sagarmala project, he said ports across the country are being modernised to facilitate economic growth by ensuring efficient transport system across the logistic chain on par with international standards.
“Visakhapatnam Port is pursuing developmental programmes as part of Sagarmala project with due diligence. Development of one of the two berths, by re-construction of EQ-2 to five into two Panamax capable berths taken up at a cost of ₹198 crore was completed in April and commissioned. The second berth is slated to be ready by the next month,” Mr. Harnadh said.
