Shipshape performance at India's 12 major ports

While overall growth in traffic stood at 3.18% during the period under review, nine ports witnessed positive growth and three registered a decline in traffic

India's 12 major ports registered an overall improvement in the performance parameters during the April-December 2015 period compared to the first nine months of FY15.

These ports handled 447 million tonnes (mt) up to December 2015 against 433 mt in the year-ago period. While overall growth in traffic stood at 3.18 per cent during the period under review, nine ports witnessed positive growth and three registered negative growth.

The overall performance of the major ports is measured by three parameters - average turnaround time (ATT) of vessels on port (in days), average pre-berthing time on port (in hours), and average output per ship berth day (in tonnes).

Between April and December 2015, ATT reduced to 2.12 days from 2.30 days a year ago. Besides, average pre-berthing time fell to 3.97 hours from 5.55 hours. Also, the average output per ship berth day increased to 12,614 tonnes from 12,313 tonnes.

During 2014-15, ATT was 2.13 days against 2.32 days in 2013-14 - an improvement of 0.19 days. Likewise, an improvement of 1.89 hours was witnessed in average pre-berthing time at 5.02 hours in FY15, against 6.91 hours in 2013-14. Also, negligible reduction was noticed in the average output per ship berth day from 12,468 tonnes in FY14 to 12,458 tonnes in FY15.

However, the performance of a few major ports declined in the above three parameters from April to December 2015, compared to corresponding period of last year.

There has been improvement in ATT in most ports except Kamarajar, where it increased to 1.80 days against 0.09 days. The highest improvement of 21.71 per cent was shown by Visakhapatnam Port followed by Cochin with 18.38 per cent and Kandla Ports with 17.65 per cent.

Furthermore, the average pre-berthing time of Kolkata, Paradip, Kamarjar, V O Chidambaranar Port Trust (VOCPT), Cochin, New Mangalore, and Mumbai witnessed an increase. Except VOCPT (8.16 hours), Mumbai (8.60 hours) and New Mangalore (1.16 hours), increase in pre-berthing time was not that significant for the remaining ports.

Improvement in pre-berthing time was witnessed at Haldia, Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Mormugao, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and Kandla Port. The highest improvement of 75.67 per cent was registered by Haldia Dock Complex, followed by Kandla with 59.52 per cent and Visakhapatnam with 45.33 per cent.

In percentage terms, the average output per ship berth day has come down the most at New Mangalore, JNPT and Cochin. At Haldia, the decline was marginal. The rest of the major ports registered positive growth during April-December 2015. The highest growth of 27.73 per cent was witnessed in output at Mormugao Port followed by 19.64 per cent and 14.85 per cent Visakhapatnam and Paradip Ports, respectively.

Currently, the handling capacity of major ports in India is sufficient to match trade demand. The capacity of all the major ports as on March 31, 2015 was 871.5 mt, compared with 581.3 mt in cargo traffic handled through 2014-15. Additionally, the government has taken several measures to improve the operational efficiency through mechanisation, deepening the draft and speedy evacuations.