Mundra Port becomes largest container handling port; handles 968,000 TEUs in Q1

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) recorded 26.33 per cent decline in consolidated profit to Rs 757.83 crore for April to June quarter due to COVID-19-induced lockdowns. The company had registered a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,028.69 crore in the corresponding period a year earlier. Despite the fall in cargo volumes, Mundra port became the largest container handling port in India by handling 0.97 million TEUs in Q1 FY21, surpassing JNPT volume of 0.85 million.
Lockdown measures to tame the spread of COVID-19 resulted in lower import and export, impacting cargo throughput in first quarter of FY21. Its total income declined to Rs 2,749.46 crore for the first quarter, as against Rs 3,216.92 crore in the year-ago period. The company’s total expenses during the quarter under review rose to Rs 1,805.24 crore as compared to Rs 1,796.34 crore in the year-ago period.
“In the first quarter of FY21, we were able to perform operationally at par with pre-COVID levels. During this period, we relooked at fundamentals of port operations and realigned costs, thus maintaining Port EBIDTA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) margin of 70 per cent,” says, Karan Adani, Chief Executive Officer and Whole Time Director, APSEZ.
The company said there has been a steady increase in cargo throughput across the ports from July 2020. During July 2020, APSEZ handled cargo volume of 18.30 MMT, a growth of 6 per cent on year-on-year basis and 31 per cent over June 2020.
“This trend gives us confidence that worst is behind us and going forward cargo volume in FY21 is expected to stabilise. Shift from road to rail and increase in services enabled Adani Logistics to achieve a revenue of Rs 200 crore in Q1 FY21 vs. Rs 181 crore in Q1 FY20 a growth of 10 per cent on a y-o-y basis,” it said.
As part of its cargo diversification plan APSEZ handled 2,46,000 tonnes of LPG and 3,74,000 tonnes LNG at Mundra Port during Q1 FY21.
In container terms, APSEZ handled 1.23 million TEUs as against 3.22 million TEUs handled at all India level, it said, adding the company is progressing towards achieving east coast and west coast parity in terms of distribution of assets and hinterland reach.
In logistics, rail volume increased by 37 per cent from 56,060 TEUs to 76,925 TEUs.