Cargo traffic at 12 major ports falls for 11th month in Feb; down 7 pc in Apr-Feb
New Delhi: India's top-12 ports witnessed a considerable decline in cargo traffic for the eleventh straight month in February to 600.62 million tonnes (MT), according to ports' apex body IPA.
Cargo traffic at 12 major ports that are under the control of the Centre dropped by 6.61 percent to 600.62 million tonnes (MT) during April-February this fiscal, compared with 643.10 MT in the year-ago period, the Indian Ports Association (IPA) said in its latest report.
All ports, barring Paradip and Mormugao -- which recorded 0.27 percent and 30.93 percent increase in cargo handling to 102.90 MT and 19.28 MT respectively, saw negative growth.
Cargo handling at Kamrajar Port (Ennore) nosedived 23.29 percent during April-February to 22.23 MT, while ports like Mumbai and VO Chidambaranar saw their cargo volumes dropping by over 12 percent during the said period.
Cochin and Chennai ports suffered a sharp decline of about 10 percent.
JNPT saw a decline of 8.06 percent in cargo volumes, while Deendayal Port Trust and Kolkata ports logged an over 6 percent drop in cargo volume. Cargo handling at New Mangalore and Visakhapatnam slipped 5.30 percent and 4.87 percent, respectively.
India has 12 major ports under the control of the central government -- Deendayal (erstwhile Kandla), Mumbai, JNPT, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Kamarajar (earlier Ennore), V. O. Chidambaranar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip, and Kolkata (including Haldia).
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, sharp declines were witnessed in the handling of containers, coal, and POL (petroleum, oil, and lubricant), among other commodities.
These ports handle about 61 percent of the country's total cargo traffic. They handled 705 MT of cargo last fiscal.
Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister ML Mandaviya had told Parliament earlier that there was a considerable decline in the total traffic, containers traffic, and other than containers traffic in March, April, May, June, July, and August 2020, as compared to the corresponding months in 2019.
The minister, however, had added that recovery has started since June 2020.
