The Hindu Business Line : Nalco to resume aluminium ingots exports thru Paradip port

NATIONAL Aluminium Company (Nalco), the Orissa-based aluminium giant in central public sector, proposes to resume exports of aluminium ingots in containers through Paradip port after a gap of two months.

"We will shortly resume shipments through Paradip port and the average size of shipment will be around 3,000 tonnes per month, i.e. one full rake load of BoxN wagons," a spokesman for Nalco told Business Line here. "The differences with the shipping line and the shipping agent concerned over freight rates have been satisfactorily resolved," he said.

It might be noted that the Singapore-based Pacific International Line through its agent, Seeways Shipping, has been handling Nalco's exports of aluminium ingots through Paradip port for the past few years. When the contract between the shipper and the shipping line became due for renewal early this year, the shipping line had asked for a substantial raise. Not without reasons though. There being hardly any imports in containers through the port, virtually no empties were available at the port. As a result, the shipping line had to reposition the boxes at a cost. Also, the shipping freight internationally jumped in the past one-year or so. No shipment, therefore, was undertaken in February and March.

"We've urged both the Paradip port authorities and the State Government to initiate move to ensure that the imports in containers for the State are routed through Paradip port so that the empties become available," the spokesman said.

Nalco started using Paradip port for exports in 2001-02 when the volume of exports through the port was 3,910 tonnes, rising to 26,086 tonnes in 2002-03 and further to 50,529 tonnes in 2003-04. In 2004-05, the shipments were undertaken up to January 2005 and till then the volume was 31,181 tonnes.

The company also uses two other ports, Kolkata Dock System (KDS) and Visakhapatnam port, for exports — with the Visakhapatnam port accounting for the bulk of the shipments. Visakhapatnam is the gateway port for Nalco, handling the entire imported raw materials in bulk and exports of alumina. More important, the shipment of ingots through KDS causes delay and other problems as it involves participation of three zonal railways, namely East Coast, South Eastern and Eastern, and a port railway. Perhaps, the choice of Haldia served by South Eastern Railway in preference to KDS might be a better decision. The spokesman, however, declined to comment on the issue.

Nalco, it might be noted, opened as many as seven stockyards, served by both rail and road, through out the country following the rise in the sales tax rates in the State in 1994 and, in 2004-05, an estimated 90,000 tonnes of finished products, representing 43 per cent of the total domestic sale of 207,500 tonnes, were pushed through these stockyards. Asked if the company was planning to open more stockyards now that VAT had come into force, the spokesman replied that the exercise to examine the implication of the VAT for the company was not yet over.

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