Major Ports’ Cargo Traffic Falls For Sixth Straight Month In September

Hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, India's top 12 ports continue to witness a decline in cargo traffic.

Volumes fell 14.27% year-on-year in the first half of the current fiscal to 298.55 million tonnes, according to Indian Ports Association. Cargo volumes at these ports--handling 60% of the nation's traffic--declined for the sixth straight month in September.

Cargo traffic at 12 major ports has declined since March as the pandemic disrupted global trade. All ports barring Mormugao saw a negative growth.

India has 12 major ports under the control of the central government-- Deendayal (erstwhile Kandla), Mumbai, JNPT, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Kamarajar (earlier Ennore), V O Chidambarnar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia).

• Cargo handling at Kamrajar Port (Ennore) tumbled 31.63% during April-September

• Chennai port suffered a drop of 25.71 per cent to 18.38 MT in April-September, as per IPA data.

• Cochin Port saw a dip of 24.42 per cent to 12.58 MT during the period.

• Cargo handling at JNPT port slipped 21.71% per cent to 26.94 MT

• For Kolkata, it declined 18.78% to 25.56 MT.

• Mumbai port logged a fall of 18.74% to 24.45 MT.

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, sharp declines were witnessed in handling of containers, coal and POL (petroleum, oil and lubricant), among other commodities.

Last month, Mandaviya told Parliament: "There was a considerable decline in the total traffic, containers traffic and other than containers traffic in March, April, May, June, July and August, 2020 as compared to the corresponding months in 2019."