The total traffic handled by the 12 major Indian ports increased by a meagre one per cent for April-December 2010 compared to the corresponding period last year.
The slow growth was attributed to the fall in iron ore exports and a decline in the demand of thermal coal.
The growth rate last year for the period under consideration was over five per cent with the total traffic at 411.95 million tonnes.
New Mangalore Port Trust handled about 13 per cent less traffic in April-December 2010, compared to last year while
Ennore saw a drop of over 10 per cent.
“We are extensively increasing our marketing initiatives to attract cargo from places like Mysore, Hubli. There are a lot of opportunities we are seeing in the export of coffee, agarbattis, garment and cashew, among others,” said P Tamilvanan, chairman, NMPT.
The total iron ore cargo handled by the 12 major ports came down from 69 million tonnes in 2009 April-December, to 59 million tonnes in the same period in 2010.
A fall in the demand of ‘low grade’ coal by China – one of the major importers of iron ore – is being said to be behind the trend. Exports of iron ore have not picked up after the Karnataka government banned iron ore supplies outside the state boundary.