12 Indian ports record 1.48% cargo volume growth in April-September 2019

October 8, 2019: The Indian Ports Association has revealed that the country's top-12 major ports handled 348.44 million tonnes (MT) in the April-September period of the current financial year, recording a marginal 1.48 percent upswing. The 12 ports had handled 343.37 MT cargo in the corresponding period of the previous financial year.

IPA attributed the 1.48 percent growth to higher handling of coking coal, fertilisers and iron ore.

The 12 major ports include Deendayal (erstwhile Kandla), Mumbai, JNPT, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Kamarajar (earlier Ennore), VO Chidambaranar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia).

Containers recorded a growth of 5.61 per cent in terms of TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units).

Figures revealed that Deendayal port handled the highest traffic volume at 61.04 MT during the April-September period, followed by Paradip at 55.55 MT, Visakhapatnam at 34.75, JNPT at 34.41 MT, Kolkata (including Haldia) at 31.64 MT, and Mumbai at 30.10 MT. Chennai port handled 24.74 MT of cargo, while New Mangalore handled 17.86 MT.

According to the Maersk India Trade Report released recently, international and domestic factors impacted India’s containerized trade growth, slowing overall import-export growth to 1 percent (9 percent in the same period last year) in Q2 2019.