Nepal plans to double fertiliser cargo biz via Kol port

Kolkata: Nepal is planning to double the fertiliser cargo shipped via Syamaprasad Mookherjee Port (SMP) this year even as the freight traffic to the neighbouring country has shrunk after its importers had started using Visakhapatnam Port in the past seven years.
Eshor Raj Poudel, consul general of Nepal in Kolkata, said, “SMP is the nearest and dearest port for Nepal and the business scope is great.It’s good that Kolkata port is becoming competitive. This year, we are planning to double the fertiliser cargo. The (cargo handling) work at Vizag port has been simplified, why not Kolkata?”
Rathendra Raman, chairman of Kolkata port, who was present at the seminar held by the AMTOI in the city on Friday, said, “Kolkata port is ramping up its facilities for international cargo freight as it is betting big on growing traffic to Nepal, Bangladesh and northeast through the Indo-Bangladesh protocol (IBP) route. We are trying to improve the ease of business and become a smart digital port. Capacity expansion is in the pipeline, of which six are in Kolkata and six others in Haldia. We need support from Nepal.”
Plans are afoot to increase cargo handling capacity of the Kolkata port to 130MT by 2030 at an estimated cost of Rs 4,000 crore. Raman said they are mulling over the utilization of Sahibganj Inland Water Transport Terminal for Nepal-bound cargo. Brij Lakhotia, convenor (east), Association of Multimodal Transport Operators of India (AMTOI), and director, Pinnacle Logistics, told TOI: “Nepal will be importing the fertiliser in break bulk vessels and the quantum jump will augur well for the Kolkata port.”