Kandla to cross 150 mt of cargo by 2025 Present coastal berth aims to handle iron ore, steel automobiles

Kandla Port is one of the few government-owned ports that earn a healthy profit. When it comes to handling maximum cargo, Kandla stands second only to private sector Mundra Port. Kandla was the second port after Mundra to cross the 100 million tons cargo handling mark, but beat Mundra hands down in terms of efficiency gains last year. However, the port authorities are not ready to rest on their laurels. The Kandla Port management, in fact, has chalked out a detailed roadmap for its future expansion, Ravi M Parmar, Chairman, Kandla Port, tells Kingshuk Banerjee, in an exclusive interview.

Kandla Port Trust (KPT) was the second port in India to cross the 100 million tons (mt) mark in cargo handling last year. Could you take us through the recent performance of the port and the projections for the next five years?

Kandla Port has put up an impressive growth in cargo handling in recent years. The port handled 92.50 mt of cargo in 2014-15 and followed it up with 100.05 mt in 2015-16, registering an 8.1 percent growth year-on-year. In 2016-17, the port is expected to handle about 106 mt of cargo.

Cargo projections for the next few years stand at 120.50 mt for 2020 and 150.60 mt for 2025 (based on the base case scenario).

The largest component of cargo throughput is POL, followed by thermal coal (unloading), fertilizers, vegetable oil, salt, timber log, food grains, etc. While POL accounts for the largest volume, thermal coal is likely to see a faster growth in coming years. As per the cargo projections, thermal coal (unloading) is expected to nearly double at 18.2 mt in 2020 from 9.7 mt in 2014-15.

What are the expansion plans of KPT? What would be capital expenditure on such expansion?

The port has plans to improve and revamp its infrastructure. Some of these projects are already under implementation stage, while others are to be taken up in due course.