Bhubaneswar, April 8 (IANS) The Paradip Port Monday said that despite a slump in the iron ore export, its traffic was up by 4.24 percent in the fiscal year ended March 31 in comparison to the previous fiscal.Port chairman Sudhansu Sekhar Mishra said the port, in the coastal district of Jagatsinghpur in Odisha and about 100 km from here, achieved the traffic of 56.55 million tonnes in 2012-13 as against the previous year's 54.25 million tonnes.
"We achieved this feat in spite of a slump in the iron ore export to the tune of 4.73 million tonnes (72.01 per cent) in the year," he told IANS.
The port exported 1.83 million tonnes of iron ore in 2012-13 against the previous year's 6.55 million tonnes.
Thermal coal followed by crude oil and other oil products were the major contributors to the achievement. The port handled 21.39 million tonnes of thermal coal in 2012-13 against the previous year's 16.40 million tonnes, he said.
--Indo-Asian News Service
