How An Explosion In Beirut Upended India’s Coal Supply Chain
The 2020 Beirut blast forced India to shift ammonium nitrate imports from Visakhapatnam to Paradip, raising costs and supply chain risks.
The Gist
Beirut Explosion's Ripple Effect on India's Coal Supply
- Over 200 casualties and thousands displaced in Beirut.
- India's coal and explosives industries still grapple with higher costs and logistical challenges.
- Vishakhapatnam port's phaseout as a key ammonium nitrate import hub has led to increased transportation costs for manufacturers.
On August 4, 2020, the world watched in shock as a stockpile of poorly stored ammonium nitrate exploded in the port city of Beirut. The blast — described as one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions in human history — killed over 200 people and displaced thousands, leaving Lebanon’s capital shattered. Thousands of kilometres away, in India, it triggered a chain of events that continues to complicate India’s coal supply chain five years later.
The disaster in Beirut triggered the phasing out of ammonium nitrate imports at Vishakhapatnam port in Andhra Pradesh. This disrupted a decades-old supply chain that coal and explosives companies still haven’t recovered from.
That move upended the way India’s coal and explosives industries sourced their most crucial input. Five years later, companies are still dealing with higher costs, fragile logistics, and a fresh legal challenge now threatening supplies again.
The Blast That Shook India’s Coal Belt
While the connection between the two seems long drawn, ammonium nitrate — a key ingredient in the production of explosives used by coal firms in mining activities — sits at the centre of it.
For companies like state-owned Coal India Limited (CIL), the world’s largest miner, and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), the chemical is crucial for mining coal. A CIL source, who spoke to The Core on the condition of anonymity, said that nearly 95% of the state coal mining giant’s mines are open cast so to extract coal out of them, the corporation needs to carry out blasts almost every working day. SCCL is no different.
These companies mine raw coal, which in turn is supplied to thermal power plants which generate 70% of India’s electricity.
India does produce ammonium nitrate domestically, but not enough to meet the needs of the coal-powered plants. This is why the ammonium nitrate imported through the Vishakhapatnam port was important for the country’s energy security.
Why Vishakhapatnam Was Strategic
According to the Vishakhapatnam Port Authority and the Explosives Manufacturers Welfare Association (EMWA), prior to the Beirut blasts in August 2020, Indian companies were routing a major portion of their ammonium nitrate imports through Vishakhapatnam for at least two decades.
Its location, infrastructure, and road and rail connectivity made it the logical choice.
Even though other ports were also permitted to import ammonium nitrate at the time, majority of it was imported through Vishakhapatnam because its key buyers, explosives manufacturers, are located relatively close to the states and regions which are coal mining hubs. They are also centres of other industries which require ammonium nitrate like steel, power and fertiliser production. Some of these states are Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Official figures of imports:
FY2017–18: 1.48 lakh tonnes imported
FY2018–19: 2.46 lakh tonnes
FY2019–20: 2.48 lakh tonnes
FY2020–21: 2.10 lakh tonnes
FY2021–22: 1.98 lakh tonnes
FY2022–23: 2.22 lakh tonnes
FY2023–24: 3.63 lakh tonnes — a record high before the final shutdown
To put that into perspective, the catastrophic Beirut explosion was caused by 2,750 tonnes of poorly stored ammonium nitrate. In some years, the Vishakhapatnam port was importing more than 100 times that amount — all handled through a port located near one of India’s most densely populated industrial hubs.This scale explains why regulators in Andhra Pradesh moved decisively after 2020.
Phaseout And Lobbying
In reaction to the Beirut blast, the Andhra Pradesh government wanted to phase out imports from the Vishakhapatnam port from January 28, 2021.
However the pushback was immediate. Official documents show the explosives companies, coal companies such as CIL and SCCL were concerned about whether they will receive adequate supplies of ammonium nitrate for producing explosives for use in coal mines.
The domestic production of the hazardous chemical is not adequate to meet the entire demand. This is why, in those circumstances, ammonium nitrate imported through the Vishakhapatnam port was important for the country’s energy security.
Union coal and shipping ministries lobbied the Andhra Pradesh government between 2021 and 2024, on behalf of the coal mining firms to allow ammonium nitrate imports at the Vishakhapatnam port indefinitely.
An Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) document has summarised a request sent by an official in the Union Coal Ministry to the state government in December 2023 in these words, “Requested to continue import of Ammonium Nitrate through VPT which is essential for Coal India Limited to meet its production targets, essential to meet the energy demands of the Nation.”
A CIL source, who spoke to The Core on the condition of anonymity, said that nearly 95% of CIL’s mines are open cast. This means, CIL needs to carry out blasts almost every working day, for which it needs explosives. This is the key reason why, previously undisclosed official documents show, officials from the central government’s shipping and coal ministries wrote to the Andhra Pradesh government multiple times till December 2023 to allow imports of ammonium nitrate beyond January 2024.
Lobbying bought time. The Andhra Pradesh government allowed several deadline extensions, permitting imports to proceed until January 2024.
According to RD Vakil, president of EMWA, about a quarter of India’s ammonium nitrate demand is satisfied through imports. It is this demand that suffered a jolt when Vishakhapatnam was taken off the list of ports which were approved to import the volatile chemical.
Location Vs Safety
Unlike other Indian ports, Visakhapatnam’s location made it a strategic hub. Also important were its infrastructure, and proximity to major industrial and agricultural regions in India.
Other ports such as Paradip, Karanja, Tuticorin, Cochin, Chennai and Kolkata also imported ammonium nitrate, but did not match in volume.
Vishakhapatnam Port Authority said in a legal affidavit:
"Additionally, the port's well developed connectivity via rail and road networks enables the efficient transportation of ammonium nitrate to major industrial belts, such as those in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Compared to other ports like Paradip, VIshakhapatnam offers shorter transit times to these regions, lowering logistical costs and ensuring timely supply for critical sectors like agriculture, mining, and construction. These factors make Vishakhapatnam a preferred choice for ammonium nitrate in India."
However, as it happens, the Vishakhapatnam port, despite its advantages, did not seem to have the measures for safety needed to handle such a volatile chemical.
The APPCB repeatedly stated in 2024 and 2025 in its submissions to the National Green Tribunal that the Vishakhapatnam port does not have enough safety measures to handle ammonium nitrate imports so it will not permit them.
It also highlighted before the tribunal some damning findings from a safety audit of the port by the Chief Inspector of Dock Safety. One key observation from the Chief Inspector’s audit that worked against the port administration’s ongoing efforts to resume imports read:
“Overall, these findings highlight a systemic failure to implement effective safety, security, and emergency response measures for handling Ammonium Nitrate, posing significant risks to both personnel and surrounding community.”
While the port authority responded that it has complied with the Chief Inspector’s recommendations for dock safety and also that the safety situation had improved since the audit in 2024, the APPCB hasn’t changed its position on safety.
The port authority also outlined what it said are the differences between the “safety protocols” followed by the port administrations at Beirut and at Vishakhapatnam. “In the Beirut case, Ammonium Nitrate was stored for over six years in a poorly ventilated warehouse, alongside incompatible materials, and without regular inspections, creating conditions that led to the catastrophic explosion,” the port authority said.
The APPCB has also pointed out that the Vishakhapatnam port is closely located to India’s strategic petroleum reserve at Hindustan Petroleum refinery.
Paradip Steps In
Paradip in Odisha emerged as the replacement hub.
Imports there ballooned:
FY2022–23: 38k tonnes
FY2023–24: 87k tonnes
FY2024–25: 3.14 lakh tonnes
This sharp rise wasn't a coincidence. By late 2020, Paradip had already been cleared to begin handling ammonium nitrate, anticipating Vizag’s phaseout.
Multiple people in the explosives manufacturing industry said that even though companies had reluctantly adjusted to the reality of large scale imports of ammonium nitrate through the Paradip port, the situation was not the same as it was when most of the chemical was imported in India through the Vishakhapatnam port.
For example, the road transport costs for explosives manufacturers in Southern India, particularly Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, have increased ever since imports at Vishakhapatnam were replaced by increasing imports at the Paradip port. According to rough calculations provided by sources, if a tonne of ammonium nitrate cost Rs 3000 to move from Vishakhapatnam to the end customer, now it costs about Rs 5000.
However, road transport costs have also gone down for explosives manufacturers based in East and Central Indian states such as Jharkhand and West Bengal because of Paradip's proximity to them.
What Next?
In August 2025, another development poses a fresh threat to the logistics problems that explosives and coal mining industry are facing. The National Green Tribunal received an application from a civil society group in Odisha requesting it to “prohibit the import of AN (ammonium nitrate) at the Paradip port..until the (Ministry of Shipping, Ports and Waterway, Government of India) imposes limits on import, pending hearing and final disposal of the present Application.”
In its application, the group cited risks to public safety as well as environment if a Beirut-like explosion occurs at the Odisha port which, it claimed, is particularly vulnerable because it has a poor safety track record. This application has since been withdrawn to cure a few technical defects pointed out by the tribunal’s registry but, according to senior advocate Mainak Bose, who represented the petitioner in the case, a fresh one will soon be filed with similar requests in the green tribunal.
If the tribunal accepts the applicant’s requests then the future of Paradip port as a replacement for Vishakhapatnam may be in doubt and the explosives and coal mining industry will be forced to look for alternative options because the restrictions could mean that imports at the same volumes may not be possible.
A temporary prohibition of imports at Paradip would have a big impact on India’s overall economy.
“If ammonium nitrate is not allowed to be imported, you have to forget the increase in power generation. This is a vicious cycle. Any shortage impacts power generation. If you do not allow import of ammonium nitrate in the country and there is no commensurate domestic production, then explosives manufacturing will reduce, coal production will reduce. Then we will have to import coal at exorbitant prices,” said EMWA’s Vakil.
