Major ports register positive growth of 4.58 percent during April 2017-January, 2018

February 8, 2018: The major ports in India have recorded a growth of 4.58 percent and together handled 560.97 million tonnes of cargo during the period April 2017 to January, 2018 as against 536.41 million tonnes handled during the corresponding period of previous year.

For the period from April 2017 to January 2018, eight ports namely Kolkata including Haldia, Paradip, Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Cochin, New Mangalore, JNPT and Deendayal have registered positive growth in traffic.

The highest growth was registered by Cochin Port (18.36 percent), followed by Paradip (16.01 percent), Kolkata [incl. Haldia] (13.47 percent), New Mangalore (7.37 percent) and JNPT (5.95 percent).

Cochin Port growth was mainly due to increase in traffic of POL (24.54 percent), Containers (11.45 percent) and other miscellaneous Cargo (1.02 percent).

In Kolkata Port, overall growth was 13.47 percent. Kolkata Dock System (KDS) registered traffic growth of 1.12 percent. Whereas Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) registered positive growth of 19.63 percent which is highest among all the major ports.

During the period April 2017 to January 2018, Deendayal (Kandla) Port handled the highest volume of traffic i.e. 90.99 million tonnes (16.22 percent share), followed by Paradip with 84.57 million tonnes (15.08 percent share), JNPT with 54.52 million tonnes (9.72 percent share), Mumbai with 52.71 million tonnes (9.40 percent share), and Visakhapatnam with 52.44 million tonnes (9.35 percent share). Together, these five ports handled around 60 percent of major port traffic.

Commodity-wise percentage share of POL was maximum i.e. 33.74 percent, followed by container (19.70 percent), thermal & steam coal (13.72 percent), other miscellaneous cargo (12.09 percent), coking & other coal (7.60 percent), iron ore & pellets (6.72 percent), other liquid (4.15 percent), finished fertilizer (1.17 percent) and FRM (1.11 percent).