BENGALURU: India’s 12 state-owned ports loaded 4.31% more cargo or 606.37 million tonnes (mt) in the year ended 31 March mainly on account of higher coal shipments. In 2014-15, the ports of Kandla, Mumbai, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, VO Chidambaranar, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Paradip, Haldia and Kolkata, handled a combined 581.34 mt of cargo. The 12 ports handle about 55% of India’s external trade by volume shipped by sea.
None of these ports are listed because they are run as trusts. “The traffic in major ports (state-owned) has shown a healthy growth of more than 4% in the last two years, despite a global slowdown,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a maritime summit in Mumbai on 14 April.
“The operating profit margins (of the 12 ports) which were declining have increased. In 2015-16 alone, the operating profit of the 12 major ports has increased by nearly Rs.6.7 billion rupees (Rs.670 crores),” Modi said. Strong thermal coal shipments through the 12 ports played a big part in the annual cargo growth.
