India’s top 12 major ports saw their cargo traffic go up by 5.56 per cent to 113.63 million tonnes (mt) in April-May of 2017-18, riding on the back of surge in demand.

These top ports, under the administrative control of the Centre, had handled 107.65 mt cargo in April-May 2016.

Increased demand from sectors like iron ore and fertilisers and coking coal traffic led to higher movement of cargo during the last two months, according to the Indian Ports Association.

Iron ore traffic volumes moved up 33.28 per cent to 9.96 mt during April-May as against 7.47 mt in the same period a year ago while those of coking coal rose 12.67 per cent to 9.30 mt.

Fertiliser traffic went up 20.09 per cent to 1 mt.

The Kandla port handled the highest traffic volume at 18.86 mt during April-May this year, followed by the Paradip port at 16.19 mt, the JNPT 11.23 mt, Mumbai 10.99 mt and Visakhapatnam 9.98 mt, data showed.

The Kolkata port, including Haldia, handled 8.88 mt of cargo while for Chennai port, it stood at 8.03 mt.

Volume of sea-borne cargo is essentially in the nature of derived demand and mainly shaped by levels and changes in both global and domestic activity.

India has 12 major ports, namely Kandla, Mumbai, JNPT, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Ennore, V O Chidambaranar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia), which handle approximately 61 per cent of the country’s total cargo traffic.

Source: PTI