- Port performance indicative of green shoots in economic recovery.
- Essar Ports registers 75% increase in cargo handling in Q1FY21
- Company handles 11.23 MT cargo in April-June 2020 quarter.
- The company is looking at a V-shaped recovery in economy.
Mumbai: Cargo-handling by Essar Ports Ltd in the first quarter of 2020-21 (April-June 2020) has indicated that the Indian economy is recovering faster from the early shocks of the COVID-19 induced nationwide lockdown.
Green shoots of economic recovery boost Essar Ports’ cargo handling in Q1 to 11.23 million tonnes. As compared to April, the cargo handled by Essar Ports increased by nearly 75 percent.
Between March and May this year, the longest lockdown of the world was imposed across India to check the spread of COVID-19. Business operations came to a halt and all industries were affected. In the first quarter of FY2020-21, businesses have been on the move to optimize, reinvent and remain relevant so they could return to old performance levels.
At Essar Ports, there was a dip in cargo handling in April 2020 on account of dwindling production of its key customers—mainly power and steel companies. However, during Q1 FY21, which is the quarter ending 30 June 2020, Essar Ports recorded an impressive cargo handling of 11.23 million tonnes (MT), with June 2020 cargo (4.41 MT) growing by 75% compared to the April tonnage (2.52 MT).
“In June 2020, Unlock#1 was unleashed across the country, and the economy immediately started displaying green shoots of recovery. Our terminals, which remained operational despite challenges faced through the successive phases of the lockdown, have clocked an impressive cargo handling of 11.23 MT,” said Rajiv Agarwal, CEO & MD, Essar Ports.
Essar Ports specializes in development and operations of ports and terminals for handling dry bulk, break bulk, liquid and general cargo. It is one of the largest private sector port operators in India in terms of capacity and throughput. It has four operational terminals in India—one each in Hazira and Salaya (both in Gujarat) on the west coast, and in Visakhapatnam and Paradip on the east coast.
The current operational capacity of the port terminals in India is 110 MTPA.
(VP)
