Coal news and updates

Dhamra port to invest Rs 7,000 cr to enhance capacity to 100 mt

November 25: Dhamra Port plans to invest around Rs 7,000 crore to construct around 11 berths that would take its cargo handling capacity to 100 million tons (mt) by 2020, Santosh K Mohapatra, Director, Dhamra Port, told ICMW.

“We are ready to start our second phase of expansion. We were waiting for the wildlife clearance. It has come. Now we have all the clearances to start work in a month’s time,” Mohapatra said on the sidelines of 8th Logistics Colloquium organised by CII eastern region in Kolkata.

Dhamra Port, which was recently acquired by the Adani group from the Tata’s and L&T, has plans to further enhance its cargo handling capacity to 150 mt after reaching its target of 100 mt in the next 6 years.

Currently, the port located in the eastern state of Odisha has 2 berths capable of handling cargo up to 25 mt per annum.

“Each of the berths have a capacity to handle 12-13 million tons of cargo in a year,” he said.

At present coal and limestone are the main commodities handled by the port. In the last six months, the port handled imports of iron ore by Odisha steel mills that were faced with raw material crunch due to the stoppage of mining in areas which were under deemed renewal status.

“Lately iron ore imports from our port have more or less stopped with gradual normalization of the ore supply situation,” he added.

Mohapatra stressed on the need for more railway rakes and development of inland waterways system for smooth evacuation of material handled in the port which in turn would lead to better efficiency and cost savings.