At the Indian port of Ennore, where coal traffic has increased by around 40%, the established Chettinad International Coal Terminal is trying to prevent Sical Iron Ore Terminals from handling coal too. Both operators have recently invested heavily in building their terminal businesses and were commissioned on 28 January 2011.
Following the inauguration, iron ore traffic all but disappeared from the port while coal traffic increased exponentially. The loss of iron ore was due to a ban on the export of this commodity introduced by the state of Karnataka, resulting in none whatsoever coming to the port from April to December last year.
In contrast, Chettinad reported traffic of 9mt of coal in the last three quarters of 2011, effectively growth of 42%.
The coal terminal has clauses in its concession agreement prohibiting the entry of competition in the coal markets for the first few years of its concession. Nevertheless, the chairman of Ennore Port clearly believes that something has to be done given that the iron ore export terminal has idle capacity.
BC