Kolkata, Mar 15 (PTI) The Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) is
expected to finish the current fiscal with a mere 2-3 per cent
growth in cargo handling owing to the economic slowdown and
novel coronavirus outbreak, officials said on Sunday.
The KoPT, which was rechristened as Syama Prasad
Mookerjee Port, had witnessed 10 per cent growth in cargo
volume with a pre-tax surplus of Rs 65 crore in the financial
year 2018-19. It had handled 63.7 million tonnes of goods last
fiscal.
“Our cargo handling growth will be restricted to 2-3
per cent this fiscal. However, other than stoppage of iron ore
exports to China due to unavailability of vessels, there has
been no major impact in other cargo shipments so far. Iron ore
exports had grown manifolds last fiscal,” KoPT chairman Vinit
Kumar told PTI.
Shipments to and from China account for 25-30 per cent
of KoPT”s total traffic.
Port officials fear that the slowdown in cargo
movement may be more evident in the first quarter of 2020-21
fiscal.
The next few days will be crucial in understanding
which way the situation is headed, a port official said.
“A ship takes around 40 days to arrive at Kolkata from
ports in China. So far, a few ships have come from the country
and the port authorities have tested crew members at Sandheads
before the vessels were allowed to dock,” he said.
The KoPT is following all standard operating
procedures in screening the crew members but there is no
restriction in movement of cargo vessels from any country, the
official said.
The Centre has barred entry of cruise ships into
Indian ports. PTI BSM
ACD ACD
Disclaimer :- This story has not been edited by Outlook staff and is auto-generated from news agency feeds. Source: PTI
