The Hindu Business Line : NTPC using western port for importing coal to eastern region

Kolkata, Jan. 23 Coal from Australia is being imported through a west coast port to meet the requirement of a power plant located in the eastern region. The Railways is transporting the coal all the way from west coast port to the east and thus reaping a bonanza.

About 20 rakes of Australian coal imported through the Gujarat port of Mundra have been transported by the Railways to National Thermal Power Corporation’s Kahalgaon thermal power plant located in Bihar.

Inquiries reveal that more such rakes are due to move along the same route.

Import target

NTPC is supposed to import around 2.5 million tonnes (mt) of coal this year as compared to 2.7 mt last year. The present import, which is part of this fiscal’s import plan, is being undertaken on temporary basis.

Normally, imported coal used by NTPC’s plants located at Talcher (Orissa), Kahalgaon (Bihar) and Farakka (West Bengal) are routed through Haldia and Paradip ports. Since large-size bulk carriers with full load cannot come to Haldia due to the limited navigability of the Hooghly river, there will generally be a two-port operation – the first round of unloading at Paradip followed by the final round at Haldia.

However, there were berthing delays at Paradip recently, precluding the possibility of two-port operation.

NTPC, it is learnt, did not choose the west coast port of Mundra for importing coal for Kahalgaon.

Mundra route

Either State Trading Corporation or MMTC normally arranges for the import for NTPC. In this case, it was STC, it is reported. The landed cost of the coal imported through Mundra, it is further learnt, proved to be competitive vis-À-vis that of the import through Paradip or Haldia.

This was presumably because either the shipping freight was competitive or the port charges at Mundra must be “very competitive” or both. The Railways is believed to be receiving Rs 65 lakh per rake, which is more than three times the rail freight from Haldia / Paradip to Farakka / Kahalgaon.

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