Vizag Port cruising ahead to join 100mn tonne+ club by FY25

Visakhapatnam Visakhapatnam Port Authority, which retained fourth position in India and second on the East Coast by handling a throughput of 73.73 million metric tonnes (MMTs) during FY 20222-23 has set an ambitious target to join the 100 MMT plus club by FY 2024-25.

The authorities want to improve the overall performance with massive mechanisation through private investment as part of the landlord port model being promoted by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.

VPA will be investing Rs 650 crore during the current fiscal. It also plans to invest Rs 337.69 crore towards developmental projects. VPA could earn extra revenue of Rs 125 crore by leasing out of 17 acres of inoperative land for 30 years at Saligramapuram--where port quarters are located--as part of monetisation plan.

All the 12 major ports in the country handled 795 million tonnes overcoming the recessionary trend witnessed during the pandemic period.

The Visakhapatnam port has been aggressively augmenting its capacity and developing its infrastructure to achieve the target of 100 MMTs by FY 25 which is expected to be significantly contributed by the container throughput volume as well, VPA Chairman Dr M Angamuthu, said.

He said VPA is undertaking various initiatives to enhance port capacity, road connectivity, rail connectivity and other allied infrastructure to facilitate the growth of EXIM and coastal trade of the region.

On the container traffic front as VPA has one of the best container terminals in India, the port handled a record cargo of 63,256 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in June, 2023--the highest container handling ever recorded in a month, duly surpassing the previous best container handling throughput of 61,468 TEUs performed the previous month.

The port also handled highest number of container vessels in a month, 49 equalling its best handled in the previous month. The Visakha Container Terminal Pvt Ltd (VCTPL), managed by JM Baxi Group is a state-of-the-art container terminal. The group owns JM Baxi Ports & Logistics Ltd.

The terminal has been setting benchmarks of highest standard of performance since its inception in 2003 and is growing consistently year-on-year. The terminal has a capacity of 1.35 million TEU post-expansion.

Located strategically on the East Coast of India, VPA (earlier known as Visakhapatnam Port Trust) is considered blessed with deep and natural draught that allows it to handle large container ships. The port has been open to ocean traffic since 1933.

The volume growth in container throughput comes at the back of EXIM, coastal and transshipment traffic increases from the vast mineral rich hinterland of Visakhapatnam. It receives large quantities of commodities like rice, maize, ferro, frozen seafood, chemicals and pharmaceuticals and metals.

Incidentally, VPA is the leading port in the country with a share of 26.36 per cent in the marine products export segment alone. Large numbers of exporters of marine products are located in Andhra Pradesh and exporters from neighbouring State Odisha also prefer VPA for its global connectivity offered by the main line services.

Vizag’s immediate hinterland consists of North and Central Andhra Pradesh, South and Central Odisha and Chhattisgarh contributing to the volume growth. With improved road and rail connectivity, VPA has been expanding its horizon to the secondary hinterland also making its in-roads to the regions of Western Maharashtra, Telangana, North and Western Odisha, South Andhra Pradesh, an official of VPA pointed out.