In a first, coal exported to B'desh from Kolkata Port

KOLKATA: First-ever Indian coal export movement from Netaji Subhas Dock (NSD) of Syama Prasad Mookherjee Port (SMP) to Bangladesh commenced on Friday.

The coal, procured from Dhanbad, will be exported to Rampal Power Station, Khulna in Bangladesh (set-up by Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company Limited, which is a joint venture between India's NTPC and Bangladesh Power Development Board).

The first rake of coal weighing about 4000 tonnes is expected to be unloaded at KPD and dispatched to the captive jetty of the power plant. The exporter of coal is Godavari Commodities and it is handled end-to-end by ZS logistics.

"SMP Kolkata has been declared a hub of Bangladesh for coal and IWT traffic with various incentives. We expect that about 20000 T of Indian coal will be sourced from SMP Kolkata to Bangladesh per month," said Vinit Kumar, Chairman, SMP, Kolkata.

As a result, bulk traffic to Bangladesh such as rice, sponge iron, fly ash and coal exports has now reached about 7 lakh tons a year.

In June this year, a historical milestone was achieved at its zenith when 'MV LAKE D', first Cape Vessel Panama Flag, arrived at Sagar anchorage which is 80 miles away from SMP, Kolkata and 25 miles away from Haldia Dock Complex (HDC).