Paradip port in east India's Odisha state will halt operations and clear all personnel by today as a precautionary measure with the arrival of Cyclone Yaas.
"All vessels at Paradip anchorage have been asked to pick up anchor and move to sea," the Paradip Port Trust said yesterday, adding that the loading arms and gangway at the north and south oil jetties will be secured. Paradip has 16 berths including eight general cargo berths, two fertilizer berths, as well as the two oil jetties. It also has three single point moorings and one roll-on/roll-off jetty.
Yaas, which follows Cyclone Tauktae that hit west India's Gujarat state earlier this month, is likely to intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm during the next 12 hours and cross north Odisha and the West Bengal coasts between Paradip and Sagar island close to north of Dhamra and south of Balasore around noon local time tomorrow, the earth science ministry said.
Paradip is home to a 300,000 b/d refinery operated by state-controlled IOC, which imports crude and exports oil products from the port. The Paradip refinery exports products such as light cycle oil, diesel and naphtha for coastal shipment to India's west coast. Bangladesh, Malaysia and Singapore were its top three foreign destinations during the past two years, Vortexa data show.
Paradip also typically handles the most thermal coal of India's 12 state-controlled ports. Coal throughput at Paradip was 2.41mn t in April, almost 30pc of the 12 ports' total volumes of 8.52mn t.
Indian fertilizer buyers also regularly use the port for their imports.
