Major Ports register positive growth of 3.64% during April-Dec, 2017 

January 8, 2018: The major ports in India have recorded a growth of 3.64 percent and together handled 499.41 million tonnes of cargo during the period April to December, 2017 as against 481.87 million tonnes handled during the corresponding period of previous year.

For the period from April- December 2017, Eight Ports (Kolkata (incl.Haldia), Paradip, Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Cochin, New Mangalore, JNPT and Kandla) have registered positive growth in traffic.

 The highest growth was registered by Cochin Port (17.27 percent), followed by Paradip (14.59 percent), Kolkata [incl. Haldia] (12.45 percent), New Mangalore (6.60 percent) and JNPT (5.94 percent).

Cochin Port growth was mainly due to increase in traffic of POL (24.10 percent) and Containers (10.79 percent). There was decrease in traffic of other Liquids (-23.16 percent), Fertilizer Raw Materials (-20.00 percent), Finished Fertilizers (-11.76 percent) and other Miscellaneous Cargo (-6.21 percent).

In Kolkata Port, overall growth was 12.45 percent. Kolkata Dock System (KDS) registered traffic growth of 1.92 percent. Whereas Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) registered positive growth of 17.67 percent which is highest among all the major ports.

During the period April to December 2017, Kandla Port handled the highest volume of traffic i.e. 81.12 million tonnes (16.24 percent share), followed by Paradip with 74.40 million tonnes (14.90 percent share), JNPT with 48.89 million tonnes (9.79 percent share), Mumbai with 47.53 million tonnes (9.52 percent share), and Visakhapatnam with 46.56 million tonnes (9.32 percent share). Together, these five ports handled around 60 percent of major port traffic.

Commodity-wise percentage share of POL was maximum i.e. 33.90 percent, followed by Container (19.84 percent), Thermal & Steam Coal (13.35 percent), Other Miscellaneous Cargo (12.19 percent), Coking & Other Coal (7.56 percent), Iron Ore & Pellets (6.70 percent), Other Liquid (4.18 percent), Finished Fertilizer (1.20 percent) and FRM (1.08 percent).