CMIE expects 4% growth in cargo traffic in 2013-14

Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) expects 4 percent growth in cargo traffic across all major ports in the country during 2013-14 compared to an anticipated contraction of 2.4 per cent in 2012-13.

According to its projection, cargo traffic handled by major ports may rise to 568.5 million tonne in 2013-14 from the 546.4 million tonne estimated for 2012-13.

The cargo traffic of containers is expected to grow by 7.2 percent to 129.7 million tonne in 2013-14. The growth in coal cargo traffic is expected to be healthy at 8.4 percent in 2013-14, the firm said in a report.

The research body expects cargo volumes to decline in 2012-13 as iron ore cargo will likely fall sharply because of the restriction imposed by the Supreme Court on iron ore mining and exports in Karnataka and Goa.

Although iron ore cargo may fall even in 2013-14, an increase in the cargo volumes of other commodities including petroleum, oil & lubricants (POL), container, coal and fertiliser is likely to more than offset the impact of the fall, said the report.

It expects POL cargo traffic to grow by a healthy 6.2 percent to 199.8 million tonne in 2013-14. This growth is likely to backed by an increase in the volumes of crude oil imports and petroleum product exports.

Coal imports are likely to grow at a robust pace power plants and steel plants, said the report. Fertiliser cargo traffic is expected to grow by 17.7 percent in 2013-14 after falling by an estimated 23.3 percent in 2012-13.