New Delhi: Boosted by a surge in demand, India’s 12 major ports saw cargo traffic increase by 6.27% to 55.75 million tonnes (MT) in April, the first month of the current fiscal.

These top ports under the centre had handled 52.46 MT cargo in April 2016. Increased demand from sectors like iron ore, coking coal and container traffic resulted in higher movement of cargo last month to 55.75 MT, as per the Indian Ports Association. Iron ore traffic volumes were up 40% to 5.37 MT during the month as against 3.82 MT in April 2016 while coking coal volumes surged by 15% to 4.61 MT.

Container traffic was up 9.78% to 7 lakh TEUs (twenty food equivalent units) while POL (petroleum, oil and lubricants) volumes too surged by 7%. Kandla port handled the highest traffic volume at 9.32 MT during April this year followed by Paradip Port at 7.33 MT, JNPT Port at 5.75 MT, Mumbai at 5.33 MT and Visakhapatnam at 4.92 MT, the data revealed. Kolkata Port including Haldia handled 4.23 MT of cargo while Chennai port handled 3.93 MT of cargo.

Volume of seaborne cargo is essentially in the nature of derived demand and is mainly shaped by the levels and changes in both the global and domestic activity. India has 12 major ports: Kandla, Mumbai, JNPT, Marmugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Ennore, V.O. Chidambarnar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia) which handle approximately 61% of the country’s total cargo traffic.

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