Cargo traffic at major ports up 6.2% in Q1 FY17

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.

Giving this information on Friday, 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 per cent) mainly due to steep increase in iron ore traffic, which 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 per cent), Paradip (12.9 per cent), Cochin (9.4 per cent), Kandla (5.7 per cent), V.O Chidambaranar (1.4 per cent) and Kamarajar (0.2 per cent) over the corresponding quarter of 2015-16.

Overall seven major ports recorded positive growth. Major ports, which showed decline in traffic during the first quarter of 2016 were Haldia Dock Complex (-3.6 per cent), New Manglore Port (-3.6 per cent), Kolkata Dock System (KDS – 2.9 per cent), JNPT (-2.7 per cent), Mumbai Port Trust (-2.1 per cent) and Chennai Port (-19 per cent).

A reduction in the traffic of fertilizer, thermal and steam coal, coking and other coal, liquids, Iron ore etc led to a decline in traffic at New Manglore Port and Kolkata Port. JNPT witnessed a slight decline in handling of other liquids and container traffic. Similarly, in Chennai Port and Mumbai Port the decline was due to decline in POL, fertilizers, thermal and steam coal.

Kandla Port handled maximum cargo during the first quarter (April-June) of 2016-17,  with two-way traffic of 26,031 million tonnes of cargo and claiming the majority share of 16.4 per cent amongst major ports. This was followed by Paradip Port, which handled 20,599 million tonnes of cargo (13.0 per cent) and JNPT, which handled 15,909 million tonnes of cargo (10.0 per cent).

Vishakhapatnam Port (15,602 million tonnes – 9.8 per cent), Mumbai Port (15,140 million tonnes - 9.5 per cent), Chennai Port (13,145 million tonnes -8.3 per cent), Chidambaranar (9,603 million tonnes - 6.0 per cent), New Mangalore Port (8,483 million tonnes – 5.3 per cent), Mormugao (8,462 million tonnes – 5.3 per cent), HDC (8,243 million tonnes – 5.2 per cent), Kamarajar (7,745 million tonnes - 4.9 per cent), Cochin Port (6,061 million tonnes – 3.8 per cent) and KDS (3,999 – 2.5 per cent) formed the rest of the table.

Commodity-wise, iron ore showed the maximum growth, with a phenomenal growth of 416.1 per cent in cargo traffic at major ports during the first quarter (April-June) of 2016. The total quantity of iron ore handled by major ports grew from 1,863 million tonnes in April-June 2015-16 to 9,515 million tonnes this during the same period this fiscal.

Other commodities which showed positive growth were container, POL (petroleum, oil and lubricants) and coal. These showed positive growth rates of 2.8 per cent (31,120 million tonnes), 2.4 per cent (56,456 million tonnes) and 1.4 per cent (40,218 million tonnes), respectively.

Commodities which registered negative growth during the period include fertilizers and FRM (-9.3 per cent 0- 3,415 million tonnes) against a growth of 0.9 per cent during April-June last fiscal.

In liquid bulk category, the growth in crude and petroleum cargo handled by major ports in the first quarter of 2016-17 declined to 2.4 per cent from 17.8 per cent 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 (as share in per cent of the total cargo handled) was POL (35.5 per cent), followed by coal (25.3 per cent), container traffic (19.6 per cent), other cargo (11.4 per cent), iron ore (6.0 per cent) and fertiliser and FRM (2.1 per cent).