VPA in need of open rakes

Visakhapatnam: Supply chain snarls triggered mainly due to short-supply of open rakes by the railways have led to severe congestion at Visakhapatnam Port Authority (VPA).

The situation has come to such a pass that the evacuation of cargo has been seriously hit forcing the suppliers to pay heavy amounts towards demurrages. The end-users are also being constrained to divert the cargo to other ports or spend more by evacuating the cargo by road.

VPA is one of the busiest major ports handling around 75 million tonnes per annum. It has an annual capacity of 125 MTPA which is likely to go further with mechanisation and modernisation becoming the buzz word consequent upon the Centre's decision to transform all the major ports into landlord ports.

As the situation has turned "precarious," the port authorities have dashed off a letter to the top brass of the railway board to intervene immediately and ensure at least 16 empty rakes per day to tide over the crisis. The letter has been sent as an SOS.

Sources in the port industry told Bizz Buzz that delay in evacuation of cargo mostly imported coal has also led to supplies to the coal-fired power plants. For instance, SAIL, one of the major steel producers, handles 4.5 million tonnes of coking coal and limestone through Visakhapatnam Port. It needs six rakes a day. Shortage has also affected its supply to the power plants.

The vessel performance is not only getting hit, the situation is also believed to be draining out the forex. "Some of our clients are diverting cargo to neighbouring ports to save time as faster turnaround weighs a lot in port business," a prominent stevedore stated.

Sources said VPA has dashed off a letter to the Railway Board chairman and CEO pointing out how they had modernised the facilities in a big way with the investment of PPP operators to decongest traffic and speedy evacuation of cargo.