January 27, 2012: The 12 major Indian ports have handled 418.184 million tons (mt) of traffic during the April-December period of the current financial year, 0.38% higher than 416.581 mt recorded during the corresponding period last year.

According to data released by the Indian Ports Association (IPA), movement of iron ore through the major ports showed a significant drop of 19.44% during the period under review. The major ports together handled 47.818 mt of iron ore during the April-December period compared to 59.355 mt in the corresponding period last year.

Mormugao port handled the highest volume of 21.540 mt of iron ore during the April-December period of the current fiscal. This volume, however, was about 4.09 mt less than the iron ore traffic moved during the same period last fiscal. The port has shown a negative growth of 12.62% during the period.

The movement of thermal coal through the major ports was up 14.69% to 36.588 mt during April-December 2011, compared to 31.903 mt achieved during the same period last year.

The volume of coking coal, however, grew marginally by 0.02% to 21.710 mt during the same period, the data showed.

Among the major ports, Paradip port had the distinction of handling the highest quantum of thermal coal of around 11.651 mt during the period. Visakhapatnam port, on the other hand, shipped the highest quantity of 5.476 mt of coking coal during the period.

Movement of coking coal through Paradip, Kolkata, Chennai and Kandla ports declined during the period when compared to the corresponding period last year.

Six major ports showed positive growth in traffic handling during the April-December period of the current fiscal, while the remaining six showed negative growth on a year-on-year basis.

Source: ISMW