India pushes coastal shipments of coal

The state government of Odisha and the Indian federal Ministry of Shipping are to partner to develop a heavy-haul rail corridor between Salegaon and the port of Paradip.

The rail corridor will strengthen the connection from the coal mines of the Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd, a subsidiary of state-owned coal giant, Coal India (CIL) and Paradip, boosting the ability to supply up to 140 million tpy of coal by sea to four industrial clusters.

Other partners in the development of the rail link include the Indian Port Rail Corp., Paradip Port Trust and Mahanadi Coalfields. The project forms part of the Sagarmala port-development programme that aims to boost the coastal shipping of commodities to reduce logistics costs.

As part of the programme, Paradip is also undertaking a number of projects to enhance its capacity to handle coal, including short-term berth mechanisation projects, as well the development of a new port in the outer harbour and capacity additions at existing terminals.

Edited by Jonathan Rowland.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/handling/04072016/india-pushes-coastal-shipments-of-coal-2016-1058/