JOC Staff | Aug 09, 2012 8:17AM EDT
Container throughput at major ports in India remained almost flat year-over-year from April through July, the first four months of fiscal 2012-13, according to the latest provisional figures released by the Indian Ports Association.
Total box volume shipped via the 12 state-owned gateway ports was estimated at 2.62 million 20-foot equivalent units, while the tonnage of containerized traffic rose 3.2 percent year-over-year to 41 million tons.
Jawaharlal Nehru Port (Nhava Sheva), the country’s largest container port, saw relatively flat traffic in the same period, at 1.44 million TEUs.
Container traffic at Chennai Port fell 3 percent to 537,000 TEUs from 553,000 TEUs from a year earlier.
Kolkata’s box throughput increased 12 percent to 202,000 TEUs from 180,000 TEUs. Tuticorin handled 157,000 TEUs, up from 155,000 TEUs.
Volume at Cochin dropped 10 percent to 109,000 TEUs from 120,000 TEUs. Traffic at Mumbai Port was flat, at 19,000 TEUs.
The IPA said total cargo tonnage at major ports during April to July plunged nearly 5 percent to 183.7 million tons from 193.1 million tons for the same period last year.
Kandla topped volume at 29.2 million tons, followed by Nehru, 22.2 million tons; Visakhapatnam, 20.6 million tons; Mumbai, 19.7 million tons; and Chennai, 18.4 million tons.
Based on current growth trends, major ports are unlikely to reach the overall throughput target of 601 million tons set by the Shipping Ministry for fiscal 2012-13 ending March 31, 2013.
