Container shipping volume through major Indian ports increased 3 percent in the fiscal first quarter from a year earlier, the Indian Ports Association reported on Monday.
Total traffic in the three-month period ending June 30 was estimated at 1.95 million 20-foot equivalent units, up from 1.89 million a year earlier.
Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s largest container port, handled 1.08 million TEUs, basically flat from 1.09 million TEUs in the same period last year.
Volume at Chennai surged 10 percent to 412,000 TEUs from 374,000 TEUs. Tuticorin handled 118,000 TEUs, up from 111,000 TEUs. Kolkata moved 95,000 TEUs compared with 89,000 TEUs.
Major ports suffering marginal declines in container traffic included Mumbai and Cochin.
According to the IPA, total cargo tonnage at the 13 major ports during April-June was up 5.22 percent, from 139.3 million tons to 146.5 million tons.
Kandla was the top cargo handler with throughput of 21 million tons, followed by Visakhapatnam, at 18.6 million tons; Nehru, at 16.4 million tons; and Chennai, at 15 million tons.
The Journal of Commerce Online