Cargo traffic at 12 major ports up 4.58% at 561 MT in Apr-Jan

Buoyed by a demand revival, India's 12 major ports witnessed a 4.58 per cent rise in cargo traffic at 561 million tonnes (MT) during April-January of this fiscal, according to ports' body IPA.

These top ports had handled 536.41 MT cargo during the corresponding 10-month period of the last fiscal, as per the latest data by the Indian Ports Association (IPA).

The growth in the cargo traffic was mainly attributed to increase in handling of coal, mainly coking coal, containers and petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL).

POL traffic grew by about 8 per cent during the period under review while containers saw cargo traffic growth of more than 7 per cent.
 

Coking coal traffic volumes grew to 42.63 MT during the ten-month period as against 39.46 MT in the corresponding months of the previous fiscal.

Kandla port handled the highest traffic volume at 90.98 MT during the April-January period of the current fiscal followed by Paradip Port at 84.57 MT, JNPT Port at 54.51 MT, Mumbai at 52.70 MT and Visakhapatnam at 52.44 MT, the IPA said.

Chennai port handled 43.57 MT of cargo while Kolkata Port, including Haldia handled 47.08 MT of cargo.

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.

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