India’s Ports See Little Growth

Consolidated container throughput at major ports in India grew by a mere 0.5 percent in the April-February period, amid strong indications that the country’s gateway hubs would miss targets set for fiscal 2008-09 ending March 31.

Total volume amounted to 6.05 million TEUs, up from 6.02 million TEUs in the same period the previous year, according to data released by the Indian Ports Association.

Traffic at the Port of Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s busiest box gateway, dropped to 3.62 million TEUs from 3.68 million TEUs.

Chennai, the country’s second-largest box hub, handled 1.05 million TEUs compared to 1.02 million TEUs. Volume at Tuticorin totaled 400,000 TEUs, down from 405,000 TEUs.

In fiscal 2007-08, consolidated container volumes at 12 major ports rose 19 percent to 6.6 million TEUs from 5.5 million TEUs. Nehru registered record throughput of 4.06 million TEUs, up 23 percent from 3.3 million TEUs in 2006-07. Based on earlier projections, it was expected to top 4.5 million TEUs in 2008-09.