File picture of Paradip port

Paradip, Sept. 17: Rise in imported coal traffic has given a much-needed boost to the Paradip port, whose transaction has been hit by a fall in iron ore export.

To a large extent, Odisha’s major port is surviving because of coal traffic. Major portions of cargo being handled from the port are thermal and high-grade coal, the port officials said.

During the last financial year (2011-12), the port had handled 54.2 million tonnes of cargo. This year, a target of 63 million tonnes has been set for the port. In the first quarter of this fiscal (April-June 2012-13), the port could handle six million tonnes of cargo as against 13 million tonnes in the corresponding quarter of 2011-12. There was a downward trend in iron ore traffic while there has been rise in coal traffic, said the port’s deputy traffic manager, Kishore Kumar Sahu.

After Jharkhand, Odisha is the second largest coal producer in the country with 25 per cent of coal reserves. On the other hand, the high ash content in indigenous coal makes it commercially less viable to produce power. Local industries are forced to depend on low-ash coal produced in Indonesia, South Africa and Australia to blend with the domestic coal for power generation, said officials.

As the iron ore export has almost come to a halt following the state government’s restriction on mining activities in the wake of the multi-crore mining scam, there has been massive slump in the annual business of the state’s lone major port.

Iron ore extraction from the mineral-rich belts of Jajpur, Keonjhar and Sundargarh districts has come to standstill since the past year as the beleaguered state government, which is facing charges of promoting illegal mining activity, has imposed a series of restrictive and regulative measures.

“Imported coal has become a major revenue generator for the port. Of the daily port traffic, the berthing of coal-carrying ships has become a routine feature. A third of the country’s sea route coal traffic is being handling by the Paradip port,” said the port’s deputy conservator, Gouri Kumar Biswal.

While export of iron ore has almost come to a halt, handling of either iron ore or iron ore pellets through import routes has begun in the port giving it a revenue boost. The consignments are being procured by private steelmakers because of an acute deficit in iron ore.

The steel plants and sponge iron factories are the worst hit in the wake of regulatory measures. With no immediate signs in sight for the lifting of restrictions, the steel plants have begun taking the import route to procure iron ore and pellets.

This trend has also given a boost to the beleaguered port, which is lying low with receding revenue returns because of mining restrictions.