MPA sets new Asian record of handling highest cargo in a day

GOA : Mormugao Port Authority (MPA) on Wednesday created a new Asian record of handling highest quantity of cargo per day and surpassed its previous record.

MPA Dy Chairman G P Rai informed reporters that Stevedores Delta Infralogistics Worldwide Group (DIWGL) Ltd had handled the Supra Max ship, ‘MV Explorer Africa’.

“The ship was loaded with 29,150 metric tonnes of iron ore pellets cargo in 24 hours at Berth 10, which is the highest loading performance achieved by any stevedore. Delta Infralogistics Worldwide Group Ltd (DIWGL) surpassed its own previous best of loading 28,008 metric tonnes on a ship in a day. It is a great news for us as we break records and it reflects on our performance as well,” Rai said.

“The ship was being loaded with iron ore pellets which is a non-polluting cargo. The cargo was being shipped by Mandovi River Pellets Pvt Ltd (MRPPL), which is doing a value-added service by bringing in iron ore from Karnataka and turning them into pellets in Goa and exporting it out from here and this is clean and different cargo for the port as well,” Rai added.

MPA Traffic Manager Captain Himanshu Shekhar said the MPA is the most congested port with lowest land area across India but it handles the highest tonnage per acre.

“The reason for slow cargo movement is because of scarcity of land and we decided the pre-stacking technology this time. We had planned to complete the ship in 4-5 days but we completed the ship in 3.5 days. It’s a new record and this is also an efficient record which has benefited everyone and is a win-win for the port, stevedore and the exporter also,” said Shekhar.

DIWGL Vice President Raghoba Kotkar said the ship was loaded with 51,000 metric tonnes in the port. “MV Explorer Africa is a Supra Max ship of the Oldendorff company and was in the port for export cargo of pellets for MRPPL. The vessel commenced loading at 4.35 am on December 25 and completed her loading at 1.35 am on December 27. We handled record cargo of pellets of 29,150 metric tonnes in 24 hours’ time and we loaded a total of 51,000 MT at Berth 10 with the ship’s gear. We created a new Asian record and surpassed our precious Asian record of 28,008 tonnes per day,” said Kotkar.