Cargo traffic at Kandla Port, one of the 12 major ports in the country, registered a 6 per cent growth at 26.03 million tonnes (MT) during the first quarter of the current fiscal.
The port handled 24.62 MT of cargo in the same period of 2015-16 fiscal, Ministry of Shipping said in a statement.
"Liquid cargo during the same period has also increased to 31.55 lakh tonnes from 25.82 lakh tonnes. The crude and POL traffic at Vadinar has increased to 138.30 lakh tonnes from 131.65 lakh tonnes," it added.
The dry cargo at Kandla has increased to 90.45 lakh tonnes as compared to 88.69 lakh tonnes during the same period last year.
The ministry has initiated many measures to improve the performance of the ports which include mechanisation of the terminals, improving the TAT (turn-around time), quick evacuation of cargo, expansion of infrastructure and skill development of employees, the statement said.
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.
