Cargo traffic at 12 major ports up 3.36% to 499 MT: Official

Buoyed by pick up in demand, India's 12 major ports saw cargo traffic increase by 3.36% to 499.23 million tonnes (MT) during the first 10 months of current fiscal.

These top ports under the Centre had handled 483.01 MT cargo during the April-January period of the last fiscal.

"Our 12 ports recorded higher traffic volumes during April-January period at 499.23 MT which was higher than last year. The volume growth was possible due to increased demand from various sectors," a Shipping Ministry official told PTI.

Kandla port handled the highest traffic volume at 82.91 MT during the April-January period of the current fiscal followed by Paradip Port at 61.67 MT, JNPT at 53.54 MT, Mumbai Port at 51.40 MT and Visakhapatnam at 47.11 MT, he said.

Chennai port handled 41.52 MT of cargo while Kolkata Port, including Haldia, handled 41.14 MT of cargo.

Commodity-wise, coal, fertiliser etc witnessed the highest growth, it said.

During the last three quarters of 2015-16, cargo traffic handled at India's major ports recorded growth of 4.3% in the first quarter (April-June), 3.8% in the second quarter (July-September) and 1.4% 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 ten months, Murmugao port recorded the highest growth in traffic at 37.79% followed by VO Chidambaranar at 19.88%, Kolkata including Haldia at 10.76%, Kandla 5.90%, Paradip Port 4.75%, Kamarajar 3.14%, Cochin 2.62% and JNPT 0.46%.

Four of the ports that witnessed negative growth during the period are Chennai 6.58%, New Mangalore Port at 6.19%, Visakhapatnam port at 2.61% and Mumbai port at 0.33%.

The 12 major ports are: Kandla, Mumbai, JNPT, Marmugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Ennore, V O Chidambarnar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia) which handle approximately 61% of the country's total cargo traffic.