Indian Ports Record 6.2% Growth in Cargo Traffic Last Q
According to the Ministry of Shipping in India, the 12 major ports in the country together handled 159.0 million tonnes of cargo in the first quarter of the current fiscal (April-June 2016-17), against a cargo traffic of 149.74 million tonnes in the similar quarter of the previous fiscal, a year-on-year growth of 6.2 per cent.
The joint secretary (ports) Pravir Krishn said the growth in cargo traffic showed some buoyancy, growing at 6.2 per cent in April-June FY17 against the 4.5 per cent growth recorded in April-June FY16.
During the first quarter of 2016-17, Mormugao Port recorded the highest growth in traffic (104.5%) mainly due to steep increase in Iron Ore traffic.
It increased from 0.2 million tonnes in 2015 to 3.9 million tonnes during the first quarter of 2016. This was followed by Vishakhapatnam (17.1%), Paradip (12.9%), Cochin (9.4%), Kandla (5.7%), V.O Chidambaranar (1.4%) and Kamarajar (0.2%) over the corresponding quarter of 2015-16.
Overall seven Major ports registered positive growth. Major Ports, which showed decline in traffic during the first quarter of 2016 were Haldia Dock Complex (-3.6%), New Mangalore Port (-3.6%), Kolkata Dock System (KDS – 2.9%), JNPT (-2.7%), Mumbai Port Trust (-2.1%) and Chennai Port (-19%).
Decline in New Mangalore Port and Kolkata Port can be attributed to the reduction in traffic of fertilizer, thermal and steam coal, coking and other coal, liquids, Iron ore etc. In JNPT the decline was witnessed in other liquids and slight decrease in container traffic. Similarly, in Chennai Port and Mumbai Port the decline was due to decline in POL, fertilizers, thermal and steam coal.
Kandla Port handles maximum cargo during the April-June quarter of 2016.
The laurel for handling the maximum cargo during the first quarter of 2016 goes to Kandla Port which handled 26031 million tonnes of cargo with the majority share of 16.4% amongst the Major Ports.
This was followed by Paradip Port which handled 20599 million tonnes of cargo (13.0%) and JNPT which handled 15909 million tonnes of cargo (10.0%).
Vishakhapatnam Port (15602 MT – 9.8%), Mumbai Port (15140 -9.5%), Chennai Port (13145 MT-8.3%), Chidambaranar (9603 MT-6.0%), New Mangalore Port (8483 MT – 5.3%), Mormugao (8462MT – 5.3%), HDC (8243 MT – 5.2%), Kamarajar (7745 MT-4.9%), Cochin Port (6061 MT – 3.8%) and KDS (3999 – 2.5%) formed the rest of the table.
Other commodities which showed positive growth were Container, POL (Petroleum, oil and Lubricants) and Coal. They showed a positive growth of 2.8% (31120 MT), 2.4% (56456 MT) and 1.4% (40218 MT) respectively.
Commodities which registered negative growth during the same period are Fertilizer & FRM at -9.3% (3415 MT) against a growth of 0.9% during April-June last year. In liquid bulk category, Crude & Petroleum cargo handled by Major Ports in the first quarter of 2016-17 decelerated to 2.4% compared to a growth of 17.8% in the same period last year.
In terms of composition of cargo traffic handled at Major Ports during April-June 2016-17, the largest commodity group (with share in percent of the total cargo handled) was POL (35.5%) followed by Coal (25.3%), Container traffic (19.6%), Other cargo (11.4%), Iron ore (6.0%) and Fertilizer & FRM(2.1%).
The Ministry of Shipping in a constant endeavor to increase the efficiency of Major Ports and to enhance their performance has undertaken a slew of reforms. These include mechanization of the terminals, improving the TAT (turn-around time), quick evacuation of cargo, expansion of infrastructure and skill development of employees. These initiatives taken by the Ministry of Shipping has yielded positive results in terms of the performance of the Major Ports.
