Visakhapatnam Port Authority, which retained fourth position in India and second on the East Coast by handling a throughput of 73.73 million metric tonnes (MMTs) during FY 20222-23 has set an ambitious target to join the 100 MMT plus club by FY 2024-25. The authorities want to improve the overall performance with massive mechanisation through private investment as part of the landlord port model being promoted by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.
VPA will be investing Rs 650 crore during the current fiscal. It also plans to invest Rs 337.69 crore towards developmental projects. VPA could earn extra revenue of Rs 125 crore by leasing out of 17 acres of inoperative land for 30 years at Saligramapuram–where port quarters are located–as part of monetisation plan. All the 12 major ports in the country handled 795 million tonnes overcoming the recessionary trend witnessed during the pandemic period.
The Visakhapatnam port has been aggressively augmenting its capacity and developing its infrastructure to achieve the target of 100 MMTs by FY 25 which is expected to be significantly contributed by the container throughput volume as well, VPA Chairman Dr M Angamuthu, said. He said VPA is undertaking various initiatives to enhance port capacity, road connectivity, rail connectivity and other allied infrastructure to facilitate the growth of EXIM and coastal trade of the region.
On the container traffic front as VPA has one of the best container terminals in India, the port handled a record cargo of 63,256 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in June, 2023–the highest container handling ever recorded in a month, duly surpassing the previous best container handling throughput of 61,468 TEUs performed the previous month. The port also handled highest number of container vessels in a month, 49 equalling its best handled in the previous month. The Visakha Container Terminal Pvt Ltd (VCTPL), managed by JM Baxi Group is a state-of-the-art container terminal. The group owns JM Baxi Ports & Logistics Ltd.
The terminal has been setting benchmarks of highest standard of performance since its inception in 2003 and is growing consistently year-on-year. The terminal has a capacity of 1.35 million TEU post-expansion.
