Cargo handling at top 12 ports marginally up at 705 MT in FY20; growth driven by higher handling of containers, coal, fertilisers

New Delhi: Cargo handling rose marginally to nearly 705 million tonnes (MT) at the country’s 12 major ports 2019-20 over the previous fiscal, according to official data.  These ports had handled 699.10 million tonnes (MT) cargo in 2018-19. The growth at these ports, that had handled 679.37 MT cargo in 2017-18, was driven mainly by higher handling of containers, coal and fertilisers. The 12 major ports are – Deendayal (erstwhile Kandla), Mumbai, JNPT, Marmugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Kamarajar (earlier Ennore), V O Chidambarnar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia). [caption id=“attachment_5239661” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “During April 2019 to March, 2020, Container tonnage and TEUS were 146934 and 9988 thousand respectively, whereas it was 145451 and 9877 thousand during April to March, 2019. There was growth of 1.02 percent in Container tonnage and 1.12 percent in ContainerTEUs,” a report said. Increased demand was also witnessed from various sectors including coal, fertilisers and POL (petroleum, oil and lubricant) was the main reason behind the growth in traffic. “The number of vessels handled by ports during 2019-20 was around 20837, whereas during 2018-19, number of vessels handled was 20853. The vessel traffic declined slightly by 0.08 percent in comparison to last year,” the report said. Volume of seaborne cargo is essentially in the nature of derived demand and is mainly shaped by the levels and changes in both global and domestic activity. The major ports handle about 60 per cent of the country’s total cargo traffic.