Imported cargos pile up at Paradip port on rake shortage

Paradip port

The Paradip port is holding about two million tonnes of imported cargo, mostly coal. The evacuation has become a problem due to non availability of enough rakes. The requirement is 11 to 12 rakes a day, but the availability is no more than seven to eight.

Normally, the rakes arriving at the port with export goods are used for loading import cargo. Earlier, seven to eight iron ore rakes would arrive at the port daily. The number has now dropped to four, partly due to the slump in overseas demand for ore and largely due to the Orissa Government's restriction on loading of iron ore rakes following complaints of illegal mining. Though the Railways often places empty rakes to facilitate evacuation, it does represent a cost.

Bottlenose dolphin found dead near Paradip

paradip on Twitpic

 A 5.5-feet-long dead bottlenose dolphin was found washed ashore at the Jatadhari beach in the Bay of Bengal near Paradip on Sunday, said Kujnaga Forest Ranger Soubhagya Sahu.

The dolphin, whose species is commonly found in the Bay of Bengal, might have died three to four days back after being entangled with a trawler net in the deep sea, said the forest officer.

Besides bottleneck dolphins, the other species found in the Bay of Bengal are the spinner dolphins, Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphins, common dolphins and Irrawaddy dolphins. Humpback and bottlenose dolphins are now found in the Mahanadi river mouth, Gahiramatha Marine Sanctuary, Jatadhari river mouth and other areas.

According to Sahu, about 300 bottlenose dolphins and 200 humpback dolphins are inhabiting at the Gahirmatha Sanctuary in the Bay of Bengal. Similarly, nearly 30 to 40 Irrawady dolphins are in the waters of the Gahirmatha Sanctuary whereas 158 Irrawady dolphins are in the Chilika lake.

Dolphin species are protected under the Schedule I of Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act and declared an endangered species under the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), added the forest officer.

Paradip Town congress committee held a protest meeting at Paradip

Paradip Town congress committee held a protest meeting at Paradip and burnt the effigy of Odisha Chief Minister, Naveen Pattnaik and Agriculture minister Dr.Damodar Rout protesting against the illegal support to the former Kujanga Block Chairman Miss Safala Sahoo who is now is an employee of Agricultur department, Government of Odisha blessed by Damodar Rout. The congress made this allegation in a meeting before burning the effigies of both BJD leaders in front of the office of the ADM, Paradip on 30th July at 2 PM. Thousands of Congrss members consisting of women, youths organised a huge rally in the Port Town before proceeding to the office of the ADM. Congress leaders Er.Pramod Jena, former MLA of Erasama, Bijay Kumar Nayak, Kedar Jena, Ranjan Kumar Das (Tiki), Ranjan Kumar Parida, Kedarnath Biswal, Manoj Behera, Ayasakanta Ray criticised the BJD government for their minining and coal scams, violationa of constitution by illegal election and apointment of Kujanga Block Chairman, neglecting people of Odisha by high price rise etc. The local Police had made elaborate arrangements for maintaining law and order situation because of the huge rally and meeting.

Report - Prashant Rout

Rs 500 crore to be invested by IFFCO to modernize Paradip plant.

Fertilizer cooperative major Indian Farmers Fertilizer Co-operative Ltd., IFFCO], has unveiled n ambitious plan to invest Rs 500 crore over the next four years to modernize and upgrade its diammonium phosphate (DAP) plant at Paradeep. Once completed by the end of 2014, the plant’s 
production capacity will go up from the present level of 19.2 lakh ton per annum to three million ton. “We will raise the required fund from internal accruals. The proposed investment is to retrofit the existing DAP plant with pipe reactor technology and increase the output by 30%”, IFFCO Executive Director M.R. Patel told “The ET” over phone from Paradeep. The existing conventionally designed Paradeep unit has three streams of DAP/NP fertilizers in operation, he said. IFPCO has achieved highest ever production of 15 lakh MT of fertiliser in 2009-10 fiscal, surpassing its previous record of 13.06 lakh MT in 2008-09. Mr Patel said, the cooperative giant has begun preliminary talks with Hindustan Dorr Oliver for pipe reaction system to meet the challenge of low cost of production, high production volumes and highest possible conversion efficiencies. The other advantage of the technology is that it lowers energy consumption by 25% and results in lower emission of pollutants like ammonia, he added. IFFCO took over the Paradeep plant from Oswal Chemicals and Fertilizers in 2005 by paying Rs.2080 crore. So far it has spent additional Rs.1500 crore to revamp the unit and resume production. From a production of 30,000 tons of DAP/NPK at the time of acquisition, the output of the unit had gradually gone up to 7.5 lakh tons in 2006-07 and 15 lakh tons in 2009-10.

Multipurpose Berth to handle clean cargo and containers at Paradip Port on BOT basis approved

The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure today approved the project of Development of Multipurpose Berth to handle clean cargo including containers at Paradip Port on BOT basis at an estimated cost of Rs.387.31 crore.

The project envisages construction of clean cargo and container handling facilities of 5 million tonnes per annum. The dedicated multipurpose clean cargo berth will enable efficient handling of vessels facilitated by mechanized operations and will reduce the cost of cargo handling and attract container traffic to the port.

The project is scheduled to be completed within 36 months from the date of award of concession. The period of concession is 30 years.

By implementation of this project the turn around time and pre-berthing detention will be reduced for vessels bringing clean cargo to the port. The project will help in de-congestion of the port and also boost the industrial economy in the hinterland leading to the creation of jobs in the region.

Coastal Management Laboratory to be setup at paradip.

As part of World Bank’s aided Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project(ICZMP) , Orissa is in the streamline of setting up a coastal Management Laboratory for promoting wet land research and species research.In the initial phase the proposed laboratory would monitor programme on air, water and soil around Paradip coast. Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patanaik is very optimistic about the project.While addressing a state level workshop Chief Minister Naveen Patanaik said that about 120 km out of 480 long coastline of Orissa would be covered through the ICZMP programme. He added,” It is essential to manage coastal zone by balancing and integrating demands of various sectors , awareness about its values and promote its right use by the local people who use it for their livelihood.” ICZMP would be implemented in pilot basis in three states comprising West Bengal, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.The project in Orissa will start at two places – Paradip to Dhamra port(40 km) and Gopalpur to Chilika (80 km).The estimation says that about 25 lakh people will be benefited from the ICZMP project.

directory of officers _ employees paradip port

paradip port telephone directory

Paradip port: Sailing against the wind

Interview of Port chairman Mr K Raghuramiah




MR K. RAGHURAMAIAH, CHAIRMAN, PARADIP PORT TRUST.

.

Santanu Sanyal

In 2009-10, Paradip port posted the highest traffic growth among major ports, both in terms of percentage increase as well as additional absolute volume, braving several odds. In a talk with Business Line recently, Mr K Raghuramaiah, Chairman of Paradip Port Trust, explained the reasons for the growth as well as the challenges ahead.

The performance of your port was significant in 2009-10 when several other major ports did not do too well…

Yes. It is a matter of satisfaction for all of us that Paradip port posted 22.84 per cent growth against the national average of 5.74 per cent in the fiscal just concluded. What is particularly significant is that in terms of additional absolute volume also — nearly 11 million tonnes (mt) — our port topped the list.

How would you explain it?

A substantial jump in oil traffic — more than 8 mt — for both crude and petroleum products helped. But the volumes of other cargoes too increased. Thus, iron ore volume increased by 13.24 per cent at 16.16 mt (14.27 mt), thermal coal by 0.81 per cent at 14.82 mt (14.7 mt) and other cargoes by 8.52 per cent at 9.30 mt (8.57 mt).

But I must also point out that the volumes of fertiliser raw materials dropped by more than 52 per cent at 0.08 mt (0.17 mt) and coking coal by 8.42 per cent at 5 mt (5.46 mt). Paradeep Phosphates drastically cut import of raw materials after prices in the international market virtually skyrocketed. Stung by the slump in the steel industry, steel plants virtually stopped importing coking coal in the first half of 2009-10.

The improved productivity too contributed to the growth. The ship berth-day output during the year was nearly 14,000 tonnes as compared to 12,365 tonnes in 2008-09.

What was the pattern of traffic growth in the past few years?

In five years, we nearly doubled the volume. In 2004-05, the port handled 30.1 mt.

And capacity...

In the last five years we added about 37 mt to our capacity — from 39 mt to 76 mt.

Any projection for the future?

The port capacity would touch 135 mt by the end of the Eleventh Plan if the projects in various stages of implementation are any indication. These include deepening of channel, construction of deep-draught iron ore and coal berths on BOT basis, mechanisation of CQ-3 berth on BOT basis, construction of oil jetty, construction of a multipurpose berth, and installation of a second single-point mooring by Indian Oil Corporation.

Any projection for traffic?

By 2016-17, the traffic is projected to increase to 100 mt, comprising 30 mt each of coal and oil traffic, another 25mt of iron ore, other cargoes 14 mt, and containers 1 mt.

How hopeful are you about it?

I'm very hopeful. The work on Indian Oil Corporation's Paradip refinery is progressing and it should be commissioned by 2012, when the second SPM with a capacity of 15 mt too will be installed. Barring unforeseen development, I'm very bullish about traffic prospects.

What is the traffic target for 2010-11?

The target for the current year has been set at 62 mt, comprising 12 mt of oil traffic, 17 mt of iron ore, 21.7 mt of coal — both import and coastal shipment, 11 mt of other cargoes, and 0.3 mt of containers.

How did the Orissa Government's ban on iron ore mining in large parts of Keonjhar affect you?

It did affect us. The iron ore rakes are not coming from the areas under the ban. As a result, fewer wagons are now available for back-loading of imported material, particularly coal. The present coal stock in the port is about 1.5 mt. We're suffering for no fault of ours. We're not concerned about the source of the material.

We go strictly by the railway receipt in case of rake movement and the transit receipt given by the State Government in the case of truck movement.

We do not allow any exporter to bring iron ore unless he has plots in the port to store. We do not allow transactions within the port premises. We earn a pittance from handling ore and yet we're suffering.

What are the major challenges facing Paradip port?

The challenges facing the port are many. First, the port suffers from shortage of manpower. Our present strength is 2,800, which will decline to 2,000 by 2013. A lot of people will retire in the next two to three years.

We need to immediately recruit 1,000 people at various levels. But we cannot. There is a Government restriction on recruitment.

Next, we need coal linkages. We've created a huge capacity, 20 mt, for handling coastal shipment at a huge cost. But the capacity utilisation at present is barely 50 per cent.

The linkages are decided by the Coal Ministry and Railway Ministry. We've approached both, more so because Tamil Nadu Electricity Board is ready to take through Paradip 35 mt of Telcher coal annually.

Finally, work on the Haridaspur-Paradip railway line must be expedited. Paradip port is a 10 per cent stakeholder in the project implemented by Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd.

The delay, I understand, is due to land acquisition problems. Once the line is commissioned, it will considerably reduce the distance between the iron-ore rich Banspani and Paradip port, and transportation cost too will drop significantly.

What about pre-berthing detention?

Yes, it is considerable. Right now, nearly 40 ships are waiting. But do not blame our port; blame Haldia. Ships unable to go to Haldia due to various reasons are turning to Paradip, throwing up problems for us. We're helpless.

Your term will soon end on reaching superannuation. How would you sum your experience at Paradip?

Yes, I'll retire in June. My days at Paradip were full of challenges, but satisfying. Paradip has a great future.

THE HINDU

protestors dug up all roads leading to the area, preventing police entry.

About 200 people were injured during police operation,says Abhay Sahoo PPSS president.

 Paradip(17.05) : During the police operation at Balitutha on 15th may, about 200  people were injured as the police fired rubber bullets, used batons and  tear gas shells to disperse the crowd.most of them are elderly men and women.they are being treated by  some village youth with little knowledge of treatment, as they are scared to go out fearing arrest by police.people fear that police would arrest them finding injury on their bodies,Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti  president Abhay Sahoo said.
                    While few  shopkeepers of Balitutha injured in police action, underwent treatment at balitutha and kujang hospital, none of the  villager went to any hospital.As armed police men guarding the entry point to there villages near Balitutha and trilochanpur round-the-clock, several persons injured in the clash with police on Saturday chose to treat under the guidance of nonprofessionals  instead of going to hospitals.

police crossed laxmanrekha ,set fired anti posco dharana camp at balitutha

Paradip:(report by D.P.Pattanaik)More than 50 people, including few policemen, were injured in a clash on Saturday as violence flared between police and anti posco protester near Kujang(Balitutha bridge).Earlier,on Friday night police arrested Jagatsinghpur MP Mr Bibhu prasad Tarai as preventive measure from Dhinkia as he was there to give moral support to the protester.Police also arrested former Balikuda MLA Mr Umesh Swain,while he was trying to enter Balitutha dharana spot today during police action against the protesters.hundreds of CPI activists have demonstrated at Paradip,paradipgarh, Kujang and Erasama police stations and blocked the road at Kujang paralyzing traffic on Cuttack-Paradip state Highway. Congress leaders Mr p.k.jena,Mr R.C.Samantray along with former legislator of Erasama Mr Bijay Nayak have also gheraoed paradip police station and condemned undemocratic action taken by police.

Police opened the rubber bullet firing and fired tear gas to disperse the protester from Balitutha Bridge, entry point to proposed Posco site, which was captured by Posco Pratirodh Samiti activists since 26th January. after warning to evacuate police waited five hour,and started firing tear gas. anti Posco activists pelted stone and hurled bomb to police personnel in which few police officials have injured and more than 50 activists including women have injured by rubber bullet and lathi charged by police. Police personnel have set fire on their camp at Balitutha Bridge in which ten houses and shops have been gutted. Three gas cylinders have exploded due to fire mishap destroying the property over two lakhs. Meanwhile, police has captured the Bailtuha Bridge which was the clutches of PPS activists since five months.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFqCNpy8AkU

       

Ama pradip sea beach

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqxne6gxy38

Paradip port move to mechanize berth,Nobel Group opposes

Nobel Group led consortium which has been awarded the contract for constructing a deep draft iron ore berth on BOT basis through the public private partnership mode is believed to have gone to court protesting against proposed mechanisation citing a clause in the concessional agreement it signed with the port authorities in July.According to the clause, no competing facility can be created within the port once the deep draught iron ore berth has been constructed. When completed, the mechanisation is to push up the cargo handling capacity of CQ3 berth, now manually operated, from the present 2.5 million tonnes to 6 million tonnes annually. In fact, several firms have responded to bids invited by PPT. However PPT cannot proceed further due to the court case.
                                  
           If the Nobel Group’s contention is accepted, then the port authorities will not be able to take up any modernisation relating to iron ore handling facility in the port, not even during the next three years, the time to be taken for constructing the deep draught iron ore berth. The Group is supposed to start construction work from January.

Mr K Raghuramaiah chairman of PPT said that court case was on over the issue of mechanisation of the CQ 3 berth. He however declined to comment on it, saying the matter was sub judice.He said the port authorities were going ahead with the preparation for awarding the contract for the construction of a multi-purpose berth through the PPP mode. A total of 10 firms, all Indian, have responded to the RFQ they would be shortlisted to seven according to PPP guidelines. He added that “We will invite price bids once the Tariff Authority for Major Ports, the regulator, decides on the upfront tariff for 30 years.”

Stop industrialization at the cost of agriculture and food security of millions of people

Posco Prathirodh Sangram Samiti plans a padajatra from paradip to puri AGAINST PREDATORY CORPORATIONS on  29th of this month.

Doppler radar facility to come up in 4 cities

Doppler radar, best known for its near accuracy weather forecasting capability, will be installed at four locations of the State.
 Paradip, Balasore,Gopalpur and Sambalpur are the four selected sites. While the Indian Meteorological Department will install the radars, the state government will provide necessary infrastructure support.

 Revenue Minister SN Patra told mediapersons that land has been allotted at the four sites and Orissa State Disaster Mitigation Authority (OSDMA) will construct buildings on which the Doppler radar will be mounted.The Minister who reviewed the progress of construction of cyclone shelters said it has been decided to construct at least 480 multi-purpose cyclone shelters along the coastline.The maximum distance between two cyclone shelters will be one kilometer.The state has a 480-km coastline.Meanwhile, 189 out of 203 multipurpose cyclone shelters have been constructed in six coastal districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jagatsingpur, Puri and Ganjam. These cyclone shelters have been funded by the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, Red Cross and World Bank.The Government has submitted a proposal for construction of 150 such shelters to the World Bank for financial assistance.Construction of 64 cyclone shelters was taken up in Kendrapara district and some of them are incomplete.While roof of the second floor of 14 cyclone shelters have been laid, only first floor of four shelters have been completed. The Minister has instructed the authorities to complete all the buildings by November-end.The proposed cyclone shelter at Satabhaya village has been relocated to Bengapatia. Satabhaya village having 750 families is constantly under threat from the sea and the villages are worst affected during rainy season and cyclonic circulation. The Government has decided to resettle Satabhaya villagers at Bengapatia, he said.Revenue Minister RK Sharma, Special Relief Commissioner NK Sundarray and IMD Orissa Director SC Sahu were also present.

Indian Navy plans to set up 'Forward Operating Base' in Orissa's Paradip

Indian Navy plans to set up 'Forward Operating Base' in Paradip to secure the Orissa coastline. It was said by Rear Admiral P Murgusean, fleet

commander of Eastern Naval Command on Sunday to media. He said this during the demonstration and exercise by the seven warships off Paradip coast. Murgusean

said besides, small and medium range warships would also be deployed in the state for better sea surveillance.

He said that a wide gap exists in east coast in the absence of any naval facility between Vishakhapatnam and Haldia. He also informed that plans were afoot

to have a forward operating base at Paradip which would go a long way in smoothening movement of naval vessels and providing logistic support.

Earlier people give a glimpse to seven warships - INS Jalaswa, INS Rajput, INS Kora, INS Kulish, INS Kanjar and INS Kuthar and Kirpan on the occasion of Navy

Week at Paradip Port. Apart from carrying out rescue operation, a number of security exercises were performed by the warships.

.

War ships visited Paradip

To commeorate NAVY WEEK in December, 7 warships have arrived at Paradip on 07th November morning. They are INS Jhalsa, INS Rajput, INS Khanjar, INS Kora, INS Kulish, INS Kuthar and INS Virat. There is a big rush of people from various places of Odisha to visit the ships as the ships are kept free for visit of Public from 10 AM to 5 PM on 07th November. Several thousands of people are taken care of Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard whose special busses who arrived at Paradip, carrying the public from Gate No.4 of PPT to the war ships. PPT is not charging any entry fee for the people visiting warships and they have provided two jettys Coal Berth No.2 and Mulitipurpose berth for acomodating the ships. The ships are ultra modern war ships of Indian Navy fitted with Missiles, Rocket Luncher, Machine Guns, War helicopters etc. On 08th Chief Minister of Odisha with his officials are to visit these ships at Port and to hold a high level meeting with the Navy,Coast Guard, Marine Police officials on securty of vulnerable Odisha coast especially the major Port Paradip. It has been reported in media few days back that the terrorists are planning a 26/11 mumbai type of attack on various parts of India.

Senior citizens visits Paradip by bi cycles.

On the news of sinking ship BLACK ROSE at Paradip many people in Orissa were curious to see the sunk ship. 4 senior citizen of Konark area were also curious like others to see the sunk ship. They came by bi-cycles all the way from Konarak and saw the ship from the sea beach and retuned back. Khetrabasi Bhola aged 82 yrs, Gangadhar Sahoo aged 76 yrs, Gangadhara Bharti aged 65 yrs and Sobani Behera aged 62 yrs had left their village Junei in Konark area on 19th Octber to come to Paradip by bicycles. They came via Kakatpur and had darshan of Maa Mangala, Gorekhnath and Maa Sarala of Jhankad and arrived at Paradip on 22nd. After visiting the seabeach and seeing the sunk ship little bit, they left Paradip and went to Kendrapara to have darshan of Baldevjew . Then they will return to their village. They also reported that in the same cycles these 4 friends had visited Paradip 35 years back and now they are using same cycles. They also wanted to give a message to the people that by using cycle they will be not part of the pollution of the environment. This  unique attempt by senior citizens will be inspiring the modern youths for adventure.

PPT berth reservation attracts Steel Plants

Paradip Port Trust's berth reservation policies for the Steel manufacturing industries has attracted many steel plants in the state. The reservation policy started from 15th October was utilised by the private sector steel plant TATA Steel Ltd. whose 6 to 7 ships were berthed using this policy of Port. Threafter another steel plant Visa Steel entered into agreement with PPT to use the opportunity to get early berthing of their ships. Now it is reported that the public sector steel plant Steel Authority of India Ltd. is likely to enter with an agreement with PPT for the said berth reservation policy. Earlier honourble Odisha High Court in its order had directed PPT to allot berths to the ships carrying the cargo of SAIL on a priority basis. But this order was of little help to the public sector as their ships were not given berths immediately and they had to wait for the couple of days. However if SAIL enters into the agreement with PPT for berth reservation, their ships also will get benefit like other private sector steel plant. PPT, to encourage import of cargo has decided to keep reserved two of its berth for steel manufacturing plants for their import of raw materials for the plant like coking coal and lime stone cargo. PPT is following the policy of first cum first serve policy of all the vessels calling Paradip Port. However the steel plants are suffering as the ships carrying cargo of various traders who are importing cargo through Paradip Port for their trading purpose are delaying the ships of steel plants which is resulting in disruption of the production of the steel plants situated in Odisha and the neighouring states. The berth reservation policy has given a boost to the steel plants who can minimise their losses by way of early berthing instead of waiting at anchorage for 15 to 20 days earlier. The Port congestion which was earlier for 20 to 25 days few months back has come down to 6 to 7 days as there is a less demand on Iron ore by the principal importer China has been reduced which has discouraged the ships calling Paradip to load Iron ore. However this policy of berth reservation is made for 6 months i.e. till 31st March 2010 on an experimental basis.