JOC Staff | May 10, 2011 9:03AM EDT
Container traffic at major ports in India grew a mere 2 percent in April compared with a year earlier, according to latest traffic figures released by the Indian Ports Association.
The sluggish growth in the first month of fiscal 2012 followed a near 10 percent increase in volume during the previous fiscal year that ended March 31, 2011.
The 13 state-owned gateway ports handled 643,000 20-foot equivalent units during the month compared with 630,000 TEUs in April last year.
Jawaharlal Nehru (Nhava Sheva), the country’s largest container port, moved 369,000 TEUs, down 3 percent from 376,000 TEUs.
Traffic at Chennai, the second-largest box gateway, increased 9 percent to 134,000 TEUs from 123,000 TEUs.
Major hubs that suffered declines in container volume included Mumbai and Cochin.
In terms of overall tonnage, major ports handled 49.5 million tons of cargo in April, up 6.3 percent from 46.6 million tons in the same month last fiscal year.
Kandla was the top cargo handler with throughput of 6.8 million tons, followed by Nehru at 5.6 million tons; Visakhapatnam at 5.5 million tons; and Chennai, at 5.3 million tons.