ICRA report points to decline in mkt share of major ports

A report by ratings agency ICRA shows the market share of non-major ports rose to 42 per cent in 2012-13
from 39 percent in the previous year because of their efficient operation.

Thus, in 2012-13, market share of major ports declined to 58 per cent of the total throughput, compared to 61 per cent in the previous year.

The report points out that non-major ports have a more diversified cargo mix and higher efficiency standards. This enabled them to post 13 per cent growth in cargo volume during 2012-13.

Major ports continued to face decline in cargo volume during the first quarter of the current fiscal, with a one per cent reduction in volumes over the year-ago period.

The report shows that new non-major ports are attracting cargo which were earlier heading to major ports because of capacity constraints in the latter.

The major ports, which registered a 3 per cent fall in cargo volumes last fiscal to 546 million tonne, have been slow in capacity addition, benefiting the privately-operated non-major ports.

It is learnt that the 12 major ports in the country registered their lowest cargo volumes in the last four years in 2012-13.

Meanwhile, the report points out that the progress in the greenfield non-major ports sector continues to be slow owing to a host of problems such as land acquisitions and clearances.