This has come as a boon for the two key ports of the state - Kandla and Mundra - as their operations have remained largely unaffected.
Like every year, Kutch has received the least rain on the west coast this monsoon season. This has come as a boon for the two key ports of the state - Kandla and Mundra - as their operations have remained largely unaffected.
Together, they account for around 19 per cent of cargo handling by sea ports in the country. While Kandla, the central govt-controlled only major port in the state, accounts for 13.5 percent, Mundra, the first state-of-the-art private port in the state, accounts for the rest.
"In monsoon, there are hardly one or two occasions when our cargo handling is affected due to heavy downpour, as it happened on Thursday," MA Bhaskarachar, deputy chairman of Kandla Port Trust, told DNA on Friday.
This was the second occasion in this rainy season when cargo traffic at Kandla was reduced to 40 percent. It was 66,000 tonness on Thursday and 64,000 tonnes on July 17, as against the port's average daily handling of 1.20 lakh tonnes.
Mundra Port's operations have not been affected by the rains. "It rained heavily today, yet there was no effect on our handling operations, for, at present, we are mainly handling containerized cargo, project cargo, steel pipes and coil and coal which do not get soaked in rain. Last week, Mundra saw five inches of rain in one day, yet we continued to handle our export-import cargo in normal way as the rainfall was less in port area. We have covered the conveyer belt right from the jetty to the godowns for handling of key import cargo," Niranjan Engineer, vice-president (corporate affairs), told this reporter.
Kandla port is the biggest handler of bulk cargo like fertilizer, agro produce such as rice, wheat and soya meals. In fact, the port has reserved one separate berth for handling of imported fertilisers. Earlier, two fertiliser ships used to get priority in berthing, but now only one gets priority as fertiliser imports have reduced because of less rain in the northern hinterland. Again, it handles the largest quantity of basmati rice. Sources said in heavy rainfall handling of only such bulk cargoes is affected for a day or two.
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