Kolkata Port profit up 152% in FY23; test run to Myanmar's Sittwe port soon

Kolkata port, now known as Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, on Tuesday announced that it has handled 65.66 million tonnes of cargo in the 2022-23 financial year, up by 12.87 per cent.

It clocked a net surplus (profit) of Rs 304 crore in FY'23, increasing by over 152 per cent from Rs 120 crore in the previous fiscal.

The port also said a long-awaited trial run to Sittwe Port in Myanmar will be conducted in April with a cargo of 3,000 tonnes of cement.

The initiative is part of Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport project.

The objective of the project is to provide alternative connectivity to the North East region from Kolkata port through Sittwe Port up to Paletwa in Myanmar by waterway and Paletwa to Zorinpui by road in Mizoram.

SMP Chairman P L Haranadh attributed the net surplus growth to higher cargo handling, cost-cut measures and reduction in the requirement for contribution to the pension shortfall fund.

He also said that provisioning for the pension liability shortfall has bee