Major ports record 4% surge in cargo traffic to 222 MT in April-July

August 08, 2017: The country's 12 major ports marked growth in cargo traffic by 4.13 percent to 221.95 million tonnes (MT) in April-July period of the ongoing fiscal. This comes in wake of surge in demand, according to the data from Indian Ports Association (IPA). 

These top ports, under the administrative control of the Centre, had handled 213.15 MT cargo in the April-July period of the last fiscal. The IPA further says that the increased demand from sectors like iron ore, petroleum oil and lubricants (POL) and containers led to higher movement of cargo during the last four months.

Iron ore traffic volumes moved up 32.28 percent to 15.61 MT during April-July as against 11.80 MT in the same period a year ago, while those of POL rose 10.40 percent to 75.18 MT. Container traffic rose 6.16 percent to 44.06 MT. 

The Kandla port handled the highest traffic volume at 36.10 MT during April-July this year, followed by the Paradip port at 32.93 MT and JNPT at 21.84 MT, data showed.