Haldia is the preferred port for Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) for transportation of the imported coal by rail to four of its plants located at Durgapur, Bokaro, Rourkela and Burnpur (IISCO). Yet, not the entire requirements of imported coal of these plants is met by way of imports through Haldia. Coal is imported through Paradip to meet the requirements of the Rourkela plant (although the distance by rail from Paradip to Rourkela is more than that from Haldia) and t hrough Visakhapatnam to meet the part requirements of all these plants, despite very high rail transportation cost in such movement. Last year, SAIL imported small quantities of coal, about half-a-million tonnes, through Visakhapatnam port for meeting part requirements of its Durgapur, Bokaro, Rourkela and IISCO plants. The volume this year might increase. The reason: Haldia being a river port, there is a problem of navigability and as a result not all ships with full load can call there. Also, there are constraints in both railways and port operations to handle huge volumes at Haldia. |
