Cargo traffic at major ports up 3% at 447 mn tonnes

Cargo traffic handled at the 12 major ports in the country rose by 3 percent to 447.05 million tonnes (MT) between April and December this fiscal helped by pick up in demand. This was against 433.5 MT cargo handled during the same period in 2014-15. Kandla port led the tally with 73.87 MT cargo handled during the April-December period in 2015-16 followed by Paradip Port (55.13 MT), JNPT (48.23 MT), Mumbai Port (46.39 MT), Visakhapatnam (42.24 MT), Ministry of Shipping said.

Commodity-wise, highest growth was witnessed in coal followed by fertiliser/FRM, other Cargo, POL and container during the first three quarters of 2015-16. However, the traffic in iron ore showed negative growth of 37.9 percent during the same period, it added. "Buoyed by the levels and changes of demand both in the domestic and global activity, cargo traffic at India's twelve major ports witnessed an increase of 13.45 MT during the period of April-December as compared to last year," the Ministry said.

During the last three quarters of 2015-16, cargo traffic handled at India's major ports recorded growth of 4.3 percent in the first quarter (April-June), 3.8 percent in the second quarter (July-September) and 1.4 percent in the third quarter (October- December). Volume of seaborne cargo is essentially in the nature of derived demand and is mainly shaped by the levels and changes in both the global and domestic activity. During the first nine months, Murmugao port recorded the highest growth in traffic at 35.3 percent followed by Chidambaranar (19.3 percent), Haldia (13.8 percent), Kolkata (12.5 percent) and Paradip Port (5.2 percent).

Three ports that witnessed negative growth during the period are New Mangalore Port (6.7 percent), Chennai Port (5.9 percent) and Visakhapatnam Port (3.5 percent).