Mumbai, 8th April.2015 …. A ferry service between Mumbai and Goa is to begin shortly. The chairman of Murmugao Port Trust, Shree Cyril C. George told a press conference in Mumbai recently, that the ferry service which will start in a few months will cater to the tourists commuting between Mumbai and Goa.
He also said that Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) has registered a sterling performance clocking a remarkable 25% growth during the just concluded financial year. In the process, MPT has also recorded the highest growth rate on a year on year basis, among all the 12 major ports in India.
This is a commendable achievement considering that the Port suffered massive downturn in the throughput following the ban on exports of iron ore from Goa. From a peak of 50.02 MMT handled during 2010-11, the Port faced fall of fortunes in 2013-14, when the total cargo throughput was reduced to 11.74 MMT.
Showing a great degree of resilience, the port has shown a resurgent growth by handling 14.71 million metric tons (MMT) cargo between April 2014 and March 2015, as against 11.74 MMT during the corresponding period in 2013-14. Out of the total throughput of 14.71 MMT, exports accounted for 3.33 MMT (23%) and Imports accounted for 11.38 MMT (77%).
Prior to the ban on iron ore mining, iron ore exports constituted a lion’s share (80%) in the port’s cargo profile. MPT has since staged a remarkable turnaround from being a mono-commodity port to being a multi-commodity port by adding a wide range of cargo to its kitty. Today, coal, coke, fertilizers, wood chips, steel products, granite, bauxite, petroleum and other chemicals figure prominently in its cargo profile and constitute 90% of total tonnage handled at the Port.
The port is slowly but steadily improving the container business and has registered an impressive overall growth of 28% by handling 24514 TEUs as against 19,176 containers during 2013-14. Of the total containers, 52% were imports (12818 TEUs) and 48 % were exports (11696TEUs).
During the year MPT saw a 31% increase in the vessel arrivals. A total of 519 vessels were handled at the port during the period 2014-15 as against 396 vessels during 2013-14.
Today much of Goa’s containeriesed trade moves by road and are exported/ imported through the Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) located close to Mumbai.
Goa continues to attract high end tourists from world over. During the financial year, the port hosted 26 high end luxury cruise ships carrying over 21084 tourists and 9894 crew. This is an increase of 44% in cruise traffic as compared to 18 cruise ships handled during the year 2013-14.
In order to further facilitate cruise tourism, the Port is now constructing an ultra-modern cruise terminal building at an estimated cost of Rs. 8.79 crores which is expected to be completed by December 2016. The terminal building will have all the modern facilities such as Cafeteria, Lounge, wi-fi connectivity, Foreign Exchange Counter, etc.
Backed by astute control on costs and riding on increased cargo throughput and income from estate rentals, MPT has also recorded an operating surplus of Rs. 30.22 crores against a loss of Rs.29.60 crores in 2013-14. The port reports an operating income of Rs.272.74 crores for 2014-15, an increase of 28.97% over the operating income of 2013-14. The operating expenditure has marginally increased by 0.6% to Rs.242.52 crores from Rs.241.07 crores during 2013-14.
