State stands second in minor port cargo handlings

Kakinada: In the wake of priority given to water transport particularly through sea water, the five minor ports in the state stood second to Gujarat in similar operations at national level. While the minor ports of the state stand at 70.45 lakh Million Tonnes(Mt) cargo handing in the previous financial year 2016-17, the minor ports in Gujarat registered at 75 lakh Mt during the same period.

These transactions through the state minor ports generated Rs 2,131 crore revenue to the total exchequer during the year. The minor ports include, Krishnapatnam, Gangavaram, Kakinada Deep Water Port, Kakinada anchorage port and the Ravva Port near Surasena Yanam in East Godavari . While the Krishnapatnam port under PPP leads rhea operations with 36.09 lakh Mt, the Gangavaraam port near Visakhapatnam stands second with 18.04 lakh Mt. . Both Kakinada Deep Water Port and Anchorage port handled 12.48 lakh Mt and 1.96 lakh Mt respectively.

The fifth one among minor ports Ravva near Surasena Yanam in East Godavari with 1.01 lakh Mt out of the total cargo handling of 70. 45 lakh Mt.The salient feature in it is container service operation at both Krishnapatnam and Kakinada Deep Water Port (KDWP) stood at 2,54,507 TEUs and 1022 TEUs during 2016-17. The Aqua exports from East and West Godavari and the food oviduct exports are major items preferred through container service from KDWP. AP State Ports director V Prasanna Venkatesh said that they were hoping to improve the revenue through export imports with special focus on container service as the same had immense potentiality to improve, he observed.