To market its new facilities developed for quick discharge of cargo the Visakhapatnam port conducted a a traders’ meeting in the city on October 1. The port is undergoing huge mechanisation. The port requested the East Coast Railway (ECR) to expedite the electrification of yards within the port and augmentation of connectivity beyond port to cope with the increase in traffic at the port in view of ongoing mechanisation work.    Vizag Seaport (VSPL), one of the Build Operate Transfer (BOT) operators, told the meeting that the new power generation units were coming up in Chhattisgarh requiring nearly 26 to 28 million tonne of imported steam coal. The railways and the trade would gain if the cargo from Chhattisgarh was brought to Visakhapatnam instead of allowing it to go to western ports.    ECR's Chief Operating Manager GD Brahma said the railways has joined the elite club of the world by becoming the fourth railway to have handled 1 billion tonnes cargo. ECR finished 10 years of its existence by growing at a pace greater than the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate, he said.