India's ports see cargo growth of 1pc from April-February

STRIKES and congestion are being blamed for India's major ports only achieving 1.2 per cent growth in cargo throughput from last April to this February of fiscal 2010-11 compared with the same period a year earlier.


The weak growth seen during this 11 month period comes after a six per cent rise in cargo volume during the previous fiscal year that ended March 31, 2010, reports Newark's Journal of Commerce.


It said that preliminary traffic data from the Indian Ports Association shows that total throughput at the nation's 13 state-owned ports amounted to 515 million tons of cargo during April-February, up from 509 million tons during the same period a year earlier.


The ports of Kandla, Jawaharlal Nehru (Nhava Sheva), Visakhapatnam, Chennai and Mormugao were said to have registered "modest" growth in overall cargo volumes. However, the ports of Mumbai, Paradip, New Mangalore and Kolkata experienced declines.


The port that handled the highest volume of cargo during the period under review was Kandla with throughput of 75 million tons, followed by Visakhapatnam with 61.5 million tons, Nehru with 58.5 million tons, Chennai with 55.7 million tons, Paradip with 50.6 million tons, and Mumbai with 49.89 million tons.


The report noted that strikes in Cochin in December 2010 and February of this year "crippled cargo movements," export cargo movements were temporarily halted last December at the port of Chennai at its two marine terminals due to mounting congestion; and industrial action by truck drivers at the Port of Jawaharlal Nehru last September lead to "serious cargo delays.


The Shipping Ministry is forecasting that the nation's major ports will handle 615 million tons of cargo in fiscal 2011-12, which starts on April 1. The ministry also anticipates that container volume will rise to 11 million TEU over this period.
(Source:http://www.schednet.com)