Madras High Court has ordered the port of Chennai to stop handling coal and iron ore as of October. This is the result of a petition entered nine years ago by a local residents’ association complaining about pollution from the port in the form of dust from both these commodities. Although Chennai Port Trust did undertake measures to reduce pollution, the court judged these to be “inadequate”, noting that the Port Trust showed “its callous attitude and scant regard to the public health and security.”
The Port Trust claims that the ruling could result in 10,000 people losing their jobs, along with a loss of revenue of $56 million. At present, 8mt (million tonnes) of coal and 12mt of iron ore pass through the port on an annual basis.
Much of this traffic will be shifted to the port of Ennore, although Krishnapatnam port may also benefit. It is speeding up its own $893 million phase 2 development programme and is proposing spending a further $448 million on further mechanizing cargo handling operations and boosting overall efficiencies. Eventually, it will have dedicated berths given over to both iron ore and coal traffic, in addition to five multipurpose berths.