Mumbai, (IANS) : Essar Ports on Wednesday announced that the cargo traffic at its terminals climbed 25 per cent to nearly 73 million tonnes (MT) during the fiscal ending March 31.

“The consolidated cargo handling across the company’s five operational ports in Hazira (Gujarat), Paradip (Odisha), Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Salaya (Gujarat) and Vadinar (Gujarat) rose to 72.86 million tonnes in FY 2016-17, compared with 58.27 million tonnes in the previous fiscal,” a company statement said here.

“Third-party traffic grew by 60 per cent,” it said.

“The growth in Essar Ports’ dry bulk cargo has been a remarkable 52 per cent at 30.39 million tonnes in FY16-17 compared with 19.97 million tonnes in FY15-16,” it added.

Group firm Essar Steel is the anchor customer of Essar Ports’ dry bulk terminals in Hazira, Paradip and Visakhapatnam, the statement said.

The 30 MT Hazira Bulk Terminal manages dry bulk, break bulk and project cargo for Essar Steel’s 10 MT Hazira steel complex.

According to the company, the terminal is being expanded to 50 MT capacity.

The 16 MT dry bulk terminal in Paradip handles pellets for Essar Steel while a terminal at Visakhapatnam with similar capacity handles both iron ore and pellets for Essar Steel, NMDC and other major steel players.

The Visakhapatnam terminal is being expanded to 32 MT, the statement said.

“The substantial growth in cargo traffic at these ports indicates the heightened activity and capacity utilisation at Essar Steel,” it said.

The company also said that its Vadinar Oil Terminal, which receives crude and dispatches finished products for Essar Oil’s 20 MT Vadinar refinery in Gujarat, recorded a growth of 11 per cent of liquid cargo.

“It recorded a output of 42.47 MT in 2016-17 compared with 38.30 MT in 2015-16,” it said.