Essar Ports marks 19% growth in cargo handling in H1 FY17-18

October 12, 2017: Essar Ports handled 17.35 million tonnes of cargo in the first half of FY 2017-18, registering 19 percent growth when compared to the cargo handling in the corresponding period in FY 2016-17. The company also registered 7 percent growth in cargo handling in the quarter ending 30 September 2017, when compared to the same period in the previous fiscal.

Essar Ports, which has recently completed sale of its Vadinar Oil terminal to Essar Oil Limited as part of Essar Oil’s sale to Rosneft, and a consortium led by Trafigura and UCP, has three operational ports in Hazira, Vizag and Paradip. All three ports registered healthy growth in cargo handling in the first half of the current fiscal.

The substantial growth in traffic came on the back of an improving steel market, leading to enhanced capacity utilisation of Essar Steel, which is Essar Port’s anchor customer.

The traffic growth was also helped by the 50 percent increase in third-party cargo volumes during the first half of FY 2017-18.

The iron ore terminal at Vizag Port surpassed past benchmarks and was able to deliver productivity in excess of 60,000 TPD. The productivity is expected to be in excess of 100,000 TPD in Q3 of FY 2017-18.

In the third quarter, Essar Ports is also expected to commission its terminal facility in Vizag Port on the east coast of India.

Commenting on the performance, Rajiv Agarwal, CEO & MD, Essar Ports, said, “The first half of FY18, as well as the second quarter of the current financial year, have been very promising for Essar Ports. We completed the monetisation of the Vadinar Oil Terminal (VOTL), and our facilities (which now exclude VOTL) handled 17.35 million tonnes of cargo, registering 19 percent growth. We are confident of further growth and performance improvements in the next two quarters of the fiscal, as we prepare to commission our project at Vizag.”