V.O. Chidambaranar Port, one of the 12 major ports in India, marked a new record by handling 1,80,597 Metric Tonnes of cargo in a single day on 27 July 2019, surpassing the previous single day record of 1,77,639 Metric Tonnes on 16 November 2017, the Indian Ministry of Shipping informed.
The major items in this cargo were coal (79,230 tonnes), containerized cargo (52,200 tonnes / 2,900 TEUs) and general cargo (49,167 tonnes).
Earlier, on 25 July 2019, the port had set another record by handling a vessel with highest parcel size of 85,224 tonnes, when the Cyprus-flagged vessel ‘MV KMAX Emperor’ arrived from the Port of Mina Saqr, United Arab Emirates (UAE) with 85,224 tonnes of limestone for Eastern Bulk Trading, Chennai.
The highest parcel size handled by the port before this was the vessel ‘MV Sfakia Wave’ with 84,502 tonnes of limestones on 11th February, 2019.
Container traffic at the port has grown about 10 % year on year due to various promotional measures that have been implemented.
The port is planning to develop a third container terminal to respond to the needs of container trade in the region.
