Record Growth at India's Major Ports
India’s major ports have register 6.79 percent growth in traffic over the last year, outperforming private ports for second consecutive year.
The 12 major ports under the Ministry of Shipping handled a record 647.43 MT of traffic in 2016-17, an annual growth rate of 6.79 percent, compared to 4.32 percent last year. India’s private ports registered a traffic growth rate of four percent this year.
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The top position in cargo handling was retained by Kandla Port which handled 105.44 million tons of cargo, a 5.39 percent increase over last year. This was followed by Paradip Port with 88.95 million tons of cargo handled, a 16.45 percent increase. Mumbai Port holds the third position with 63.05 million tons of cargo handled and a growth rate of 3.17 percent.
Iron ore traffic attained the highest growth rate of 163.67 percent. Other miscellaneous and general cargo grew by 18.53 percent and petroleum, oil and lubricant products by 8.16 percent.
For the first time ever, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) raised a foreign denominated infrastructure development loan of $400 million - the first major port to raise foreign currency loans. Kamarajar Port Limited (Ennore) is also in the process of raising $100 million foreign currency loan.
The major ports also recorded the highest ever capacity addition of 100.37 million tons (MT) during 2016-17. The capacity of major ports during 2015-16 was 965.36 MTPA. This exceeded 1,065 MTPA during 2016-17.
During 2016-17, total turn-around time came down to 3.44 days as against 3.64 days during last year. Average output per ship berth day increased to 14,583 tons compared to 13,748 tons last year.
The major ports have been benchmarked to international standards, with 116 initiatives identified. Out of these, 70 initiatives have been implemented and remaining will be implemented by 2019. This has resulted in unlocking 80 MTPA capacity.
Mumbai Port has become a cruise ship home port. Asia’s largest passenger ship Genting Dream with a capacity of 3,400 guests anchored at Mumbai Port on October 29, 2016. The ship carried 1,900 passengers from Mumbai to Singapore via Colombo. 51 cruise vessels called at Mumbai Port during 2016-17.
Overall, 158 cruise vessels visited five major ports during 2016-17, an increase of 23 percent over 2015-16.
The Ministry has undertaken several initiatives including the dredging of Mumbai Channel and JNPT Channel phase – II, smart port industrial cities are being developed at Paradip and Kandla and a multi-modal logistics park is being set up in Paradip.
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