India Container Traffic Rises 2.5 Percent

Container throughput at major ports in India grew about 2.5 percent year-over-year from April through August, according to preliminary figures released by the Indian Ports Association.

Volume for the first five months of fiscal 2012-13 totaled 3.3 million 20-foot-equivalent units, up from 3.2 million TEUs a year earlier. The tonnage of containerized cargo increased 4 percent to 51.4 million tons from 49.4 million tons.

The volume of containers handled by Jawaharlal Nehru (Nhava Sheva), the country’s largest container port, grew 2 percent to 1.8 million TEUs from 1.78 million TEUs.

Traffic at Chennai Port was almost flat with the year-ago period, at 675,000 TEUs.

Kolkata handled 259,000 TEUs, up 16 percent from 224,000 TEUs. Tuticorin moved 201,000 TEUs, compared with 196,000 TEUs a year ago. Throughput at Cochin, which received a boost last week when the government agreed to relax cabotage laws for foreign-flag vessels, declined to 143,000 TEUs from 153,000 TEUs for the same period last year.

According to the IPA, major ports handled 670,000 TEUs in August, up 5 percent from 638,000 TEUs a year earlier.

Total cargo tonnage at the 12 state-owned gateway ports from April through August was down 3.5 percent year-over-year to 229 million tons.

Kandla emerged as the top cargo handler during April to August, with throughput of 37.4 million tons, followed by Nehru, at 27.6 million tons; Visakhapatnam, at 25.8 million tons; Mumbai, at 24.2 million tons; and Chennai, at 22.8 million tons.

- The Journal of Commerce.