Cargo traffic at 12 major ports up 4% in April-July

Increased demand for iron ore, petroleum oil and lubricants led to higher movement of cargo

The country's 12 major ports saw their cargo traffic go up by 4.13 per cent to 221.95 million tonnes (MT) in April-July period of the ongoing fiscal, riding on the back of a surge in demand, according to data from ports' body IPA.

These top ports, under the administrative control of the Centre, had handled 213.15 MT cargo in the April-July period of the last fiscal.

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Increased demand from sectors like iron ore, petroleum oil and lubricants (POL) and containers led to the higher movement of cargo during the last four months, according to the Indian Ports Association (IPA).

Iron ore traffic volumes moved up 32.28 per cent to 15.61 MT during April-July as against 11.80 MT in the same period a year ago, while those of POL rose 10.40 per cent to 75.18 MT.

Container traffic rose 6.16 per cent to 44.06 MT.

The Kandla port handled the highest traffic volume at 36.10 MT during April-July this year, followed by the Paradip port at 32.93 MT and JNPT at 21.84 MT, data showed.

Volume of sea-borne cargo is essentially in the nature of derived demand and mainly shaped by levels and changes in both global and domestic activity.

India has 12 major ports, namely Kandla, Mumbai, JNPT, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Ennore, V O Chidambaranar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia), which handle approximately 61 per cent of the country's total cargo traffic.