Cargo traffic at Major Ports grows by 5.2percent

Major Ports in India handled 315.4 MT of cargo during the first six months of FY2016-17 (April-September) and showed a positive growth of 5.1 per cent as compared to the same period last year. The cargo traffic handled by the Major Ports during the same period last year was 299.5 MT. This improvement of performance is the result of many measures initiated by the Ministry of Shipping to improve the performance of the ports.

These include mechanisation of terminals, improving turnaround time, quick evacuation of cargo, expansion of infrastructure, and skill development of employees. The slew of measures taken by the Ministry of Shipping to improve performance of ports has started to yield positive results.

Mormugao Port recorded the highest growth in traffic during the first six months of FY 2016-17 (April-September), an increase of 61 per cent, followed by Paradip (18.3 per cent), Vishakhapatnam (11 per cent), Kandla (7.1 per cent), Cochin (5.2 per cent), VO Chidambaranar (3.5 per cent), New Mangalore (3.4 per cent) and Chennai Port at 0.3 per cent.

Kandla Port handled the maximum cargo during the first six months of FY2016-17. The port handled 53.9 MT (17.1 per cent) of the total cargo handled by Major Ports. Paradip was a close second at 42.6 MT (13.5 per cent) followed by JNPT at 30.8 MT (9.8 per cent) and Mumbai Port at 30.8 MT (9.8 per cent).

Vishakhapatnam Port handled 30.6 MT cargo (9.7 per cent) followed by Chennai at 25,892 MT (8.2 per cent) and VO Chidambaranar at 19.3 MT (6.1 per cent). New Mangalore Port handled 17.5 MT (5.5 per cent) of cargo followed by Haldia Dock Complex at 16.2 MT (5.1 per cent), and Karmajar Port at 14.8 MT (4.7 per cent).

The first six months of FY 2016-17 witnessed an astounding growth in iron ore shipments, which showed a growth of 142.4 per cent as compared to the same period last year. This growth in cargo share of iron ore can be attributed to re-starting of mining in Goa. POL (petroleum, oil & lubricants) increased by 5.8 per cent followed by other cargo at 4.6 per cent and container traffic at 0.7 per cent as compared to the same period in 2015-16.

In terms of composition of the cargo handled at Major Ports, the largest commodity handled in the period of April-September 2016 was POL (37.1 per cent), followed by coal (23.4 per cent), container traffic (19.6 per cent), other cargo (11.9 per cent), iron ore (5.66 per cent) and fertilisers at 2.5 per cent.