Essar Shipping Ltd (ESL) is eyeing a 38 per cent growth in cargo volume in the ongoing fiscal to 18 million tonnes (MT), a company official said.The company handled 13.06 MT of cargo in the previous fiscal.Essar Shipping CEO Ranjit Singh said the growth in volumes can be attributed to the increased coastal cargo movement undertaken by ESL.”In April-September of 2017-18, the company’s 14-vessel diversified fleet had already handled 7.72 MT of dry bulk cargo. The cargo handling volumes in October and November this year were 1.25 MT and 1.27 MT respectively. Given the trend, ESL is expecting to clock 18 MT of dry cargo in 2017-18,” he said.The company has a 20 per cent market share in coastal cargo along the Indian coast, Singh said.The 12 dry bulk carriers in ESL’s fleet are engaged in coastal shipping as well as in overseas trade.The ports that these vessels berth at are almost all the 12 major Indian ports, including Kandla, Mumbai, Vizag, Mangalore and Paradip, as well as minor ports like Hazira, Okha, Dighi, and Kattupali.Essar Shipping has been moving cargo through the coastal shipping route since 1975. The company serves industries including steel, cement, construction, minerals & metals, among others. The customers are a mix of Essar group companies as well as other companies operating in these sectors.ESL CEO said the company has placed order for four Supramax vessels (54,000 DWT each) whose delivery is scheduled in 2020.The company is also looking to add a Panamax vessel and tanker to its fleet in the next fiscal, which will increase its Dry Weight Tonnage (DWT) capacity from 1.63 million to 1.7 million.The plan is also to diversify its fleet, which comprises two Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), to bring more balance between bulk and liquid cargo, he added.