Issue of transportation of coking coal resolved: RINL CMD

New Delhi: The issue of transportation of coking coal for Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) from Adani Gangavaram Port Ltd (AGPL) has been resolved, the senior most official informed on Friday.

RINL faced an unprecedented challenge when operations at AGPL were halted on April 12 due to the agitation of the Adani Gangavaram Port workers. This disruption significantly affected RINL's ability to procure essential raw materials, as the coking coal and limestone are crucial for RINL's production processes.

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The movement of key raw materials for making steel from AGPL to RINL plant through a conveyor belt resumed from Friday, RINL CMD Atul Bhatt informed.

In his message, Bhatt thanked the district administration, all other stakeholders which includes RINL’s employees, all trade union members, Steel Executives’ Association (SEA), people's representatives, residents of Visakhapatnam, contract workers and displaced persons for their timely intervention in coming together and working with RINL in immediately resolving this severe raw material crisis.

“The unstinted support from all stakeholders including customers and vendors in this matter is paramount to ensuring the uninterrupted and safe operations of RINL and will help in safeguarding our valuable assets, jobs and sustaining economic growth in our region,” Atul Bhatt said.

Bhatt conveyed his special thanks to Steel Minister, Officials of the Steel Ministry, management of SAIL for their constant support and guidance to tide over the crisis.

“RINL is also grateful to the Railways & VPA (Visakhapatnam Port Authority) for their prompt logistic support and also to APEPDCL (Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited) for their support in ensuring constant supply of power to Visakhapatnam Steel Plant,” Bhatt said.

Bhatt also thanked the entire print & electronic media for highlighting RINL’s severe raw material crisis from local to national level through their publications and electronic channels.

“We understand the challenges we face are significant, but we firmly believe that together, we can overcome them and steer RINL back onto the path of growth. Once again, the RINL collective has demonstrated to the world that with dedication and commitment, any hurdle can be surmounted. Your support during this time has been invaluable, and we look forward to continuing our journey together toward a prosperous future," Bhatt added.

“Now, our focus will be to ramp up the production in a phased manner based on the availability of raw material and put in our best efforts to minimize the loss suffered during the past one month due to this raw material crisis”, RINL CMD said.

RINL, the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) under the Union steel ministry, is among the country's top six steel makers. It has three blast furnaces of 2.5 million tonnes each.

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