Baalu for a container terminal at New Mangalore Port

New Delhi, Jul 7 (UNI) In view of the growth in container traffic, Shipping Minister T R Baalu today called for setting up a container terminal at the New Mangalore Port (NMP).

Preliminary discussions should also be initiated with various Oil PSUs and companies for exploring the possibility of setting up of an LNG terminal at the Port, Mr Baalu said while reviewing the performance of NMP, which saw the total traffic grow from 32 million tonnes in 2006-07 to 36 million tonnes in 2007-08.

The rail-bound traffic more than doubled, from 3.018 million tonnes to 6.185 million tonnes, and container traffic rose by 24 per cent during the period.

The Minister also directed the NMP Trust Chairman to take measures to raise the ship berth day output in the Port to improve the performance of manually handled cargo.

He also called for expediting the mechanisation of cargo-handling at Berth No.14.

He said the NMP, being the premier port in Karnataka, should also step up its infrastructure initiatives to meet the challenges ahead, an official release here said.

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