WASHINGTON: Traffic at major, or public, Indian ports rose 4.1 percent in the first four months of the fiscal year, but growth would have been higher if Chennai hadn’t taken a steep hit in volumes, according to the newest port data analyzed by JOC.com. The country’s 12 major ports handled a combined 2.84 million twenty-foot-equivalent units from April to July, up from 2.72 million TEUs a year earlier. Containerized tonnage edged up 0.65 percent year-over-year to 41.5 million tonnes (45.7 million tons), according to the data.
Volume at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust increased 1.2 percent year-over-year to 1.53 million TEUs from 1.51 million TEUs, commanding a 54 percent share of Indian containerized cargo shipped via major ports. By terminal, the latest figures were as follows: APM Terminals-managed Gateway Terminals India, down 6.9 percent from 636,831 TEUs to 592,875 TEUs; DP World Nhava Sheva, which includes two terminals, down 3 percent from 418,253 TEUs to 406,164 TEUs; and state-owned Jawaharlal Nehru Container Terminal, up 16.6 percent from 451,657 TEUs to 526,588 TEUs.
The Chennai port’s four-month volume fell nearly 7 percent year-over-year to 504,000 TEUs, reflecting how a shift of some cargo to nearby privately-operated minor ports is costing the public east coast harbor.
