Cargo volume handled by the country’s top 12 ports was marginally up by 0.34 per cent at 463.07 million tonnes during the April-November period this year, according to the Indian Ports Association (IPA).
The ports had handled 461.48 MT of cargo during the corresponding period of the last fiscal. The ports are Deendayal (erstwhile Kandla), Mumbai, JNPT, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Kamarajar (earlier Ennore), V.O. Chidambaranar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia).
While the handling of iron ore saw a 30.24 per cent jump to 33.95 MT during the period, thermal coal shipments declined by 17.82 per cent to 58.17 MT. The 12 ports had handled 26.07 MT of iron ore and 70.79 MT of coal during the April-November period of the previous fiscal. Handling of coking and other coal rose by 1.95 per cent to 37.17 MT during the eight months as compared with 36.45 MT of coking coal handled in the corresponding period last fiscal.
Finished fertiliser volumes jumped 24.08 per cent during the period but raw fertiliser volumes declined by 3.12 per cent. Containers recorded a growth of 3.36 per cent in terms of TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units).
According to the figures, Deendayal port handled the highest traffic volume at 82.20 MT during the April-November period, followed by Paradip at 73.25 MT, Visakhapatnam at 47.05, JNPT at 44.93 MT, Kolkata (including Haldia) at 41.25 MT, and Mumbai at 40.88 MT.
Chennai port handled 32.14 MT of cargo, while New Mangalore handled 24.17 MT. The volume of seaborne cargo is essentially in the nature of derived demand and is mainly shaped by the levels and changes in both global and domestic activity. These major ports handle about 60 per cent of the country’s total cargo traffic.
