Essar Shipping acquires 74,005 DWT Panamax vessel

Mumbai May 23 (IANS) The Ruia brothers-led Essar Shipping on Tuesday announced it has added a Panamax vessel of 74 005 deadweight tonnage (DWT) to its fleet of vessels.

With this new induction Essar Shipping now has a fleet of 14 vessels that include VLCCs (very large crude carriers) Capesizes Mini-capes Panamax Supramaxes and handysize bulk carriers the company said in a statement here.

With this addition Essar Shipping s total DWT capacity now stands at 1.6 million and the firm s average fleet age has fallen to 12 years from the earlier 13.5 years it added.

This 2000-built Panamax bulk carrier rechristened MV Mahavir will be deployed for transporting pellets coal and limestone from Essar Steel s pellet plant in Paradip to the steel plant in Hazira the statement said.

Last month Essar Shipping de-commissioned MV Chandi Prasad which sailed for 28 years and MV Mahavir is a perfect replacement the company said.

In the last fiscal ended March Essar Shipping reported a 22 per cent growth in cargo handling while its capacity utilisation grew to 94 per cent from 80 per cent.

--IANS
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