Establishment of several mechanised ports in the country is expected to boost coal imports in the country, which has been plagued by small and old terminals not capable of entertaining standard size coal vessels

Coal imports in India that bore the burnt of small, shallow and old terminals at the country’s ports is set to get a facelift in the coming days, thanks to the establishment of several large, private and fully mechanised ports.  Mundra, Gangavaram, Reva and Krishnapatnam are some of the ports that are expected to play a significant role in the near future in India’s coal imports. According to a survey conducted by ShippingBiz360.com, a staggering 100% of the respondents feel that the coming of mechanised ports will aid coal imports in the country. The sheer size of these ports has even taken international coal suppliers by surprise who doubted India’s credentials of entertaining standard size coal vessels.

Impetus provided by private players

According to Biswas Parthasarthy, proprietor of Vishnu Shipping Consultants, a small-sized shipping services consulting firm in Hyderabad, “It is not that government-run ports are not expanding their size to allow standard size coal vessels to call at them. But these expansion plans are running way behind schedule due to some odd reasons. Entry of private players in the port sector has spurred port expansion projects, thereby leading to greater coal imports in the country.” It is anticipated that India will need to import coal for the next 20 years to meet its domestic requirements and in 2010-11, it is expected to import 81 million tonnes of coal.

“India’s coal imports have also been impeded due to poor rail and road connectivity, leading to piling up of coal stocks at ports that takes several weeks to clear. The mechanised ports are better served by transportation facilities, thereby reducing congestion,” comments Benoy Krishna Dey, senior manager of Tara Marine Syndicate, a small-sized shipping firm in Kolkata. Industry players also opine that these mechanised ports will not only aid coal imports in the country, but will also help several power and steel plants as coal constitutes an important raw material for these plants.

Arup Choudhury