MUMBAI: Container volumes grew 6.7 percent year-over-year in fiscal year 2014-2015 at India’s major ports owned by the federal government, according to provisional port figures compiled by JOC.com.
The latest statistics show cumulative yearly traffic totaled nearly 8 million 20-foot-equivalent units in the April 2014 through March 2015 period, up from 7.46 million TEUs in the previous year. Containerized cargo tonnage increased about 4 percent to 119.4 million tons.
Annual throughput at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, also known as Nhava Sheva, increased 7.5 percent to 4.47 million TEUs, surpassing its previous yearly high of 4.32 million TEUs recorded in fiscal year 2011-12 even as congestion continued to trouble the country’s largest container handler. The port trust had set a target of 4.35 million TEUs in 2014-15, officials told JOC.com.
Statistics show APM Terminals-operated Gateway Terminals India, JNPT’s largest facility, moved 2.01 million TEUs, up from 1.9 million TEUs a year earlier, with volume at port-run Jawaharlal Nehru Container Terminal JNCT reaching 1.3 million TEUs, relatively flat compared to the numbers in 2013-14; and DP World’s Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal handling 1.16 million TEUs, up 20 percent from 970,000 TEUs.
JNPT accounts for more than half of total container volumes handled at India’s 12 public ports and around 40 percent of the nation’s overall containerized ocean trade. The west coast port is in the midst of a major capacity expansion program, albeit belatedly, to handle the growth in cargo. In July, the port awarded a $1.3 billion contract to PSA International for the construction of a fourth terminal in two phases, comprising a 2,000-meter-long quay (about 6,562 feet), a 200-hectare backup area, 24 quay cranes and an annual capacity of 4.8 million TEUs when fully built-out. This followed a dredging contract assigned by the port trust to Netherlands-based Royal Boskalis Westminster to deepen the main fairway to 46 feet to allow bigger container ships call at the port. “The first phase of the capital dredging work has been completed,” a port official told JOC.com.
In addition, Dubai-based DP World is nearing completion of work to commission its second container facility in Nhava Sheva with a designed capacity of 800,000 TEUs per year. The $200 million project comprises a berth length of 330 meters (about 1,083 feet), a 13.5-meter (44-foot) depth, a 27-hectare storage yard, four rail-mounted quay cranes and 12 rubber-tire gantry cranes. “The construction of 330-meter container jetty is almost in the final stages. The concessionaire is endeavoring to commence commercial operations in early 2016,” the official said.
In related news, Ajay Singh, CEO of DP World Nhava Sheva, said a new process allowing truckers to transfer containers between NSCIT and JNCT has been put in place to help speed up cargo flow. “After dropping export containers at any of the terminal, empty trailers can proceed directly to pick up import units from the other terminal. Gate out/in process shall be performed at the junction point of both terminals,” Singh said in a trade communique. The move followed a similar initiative by GTI after truck turn times worsened in JNPT.
According to the newest data, Chennai port handled 1.55 million TEUs in fiscal 2014-15, up 5.5 percent from 1.47 million TEUs. Other state-owned port complexes also saw healthy growth in container-handling on a year-over-year basis. Kolkata Port, which includes Haldia Dock, moved 630,000 TEUs, up from 562,000 TEUs. Traffic at Tuticorin port, renamed V.O. Chidambaranar, reached 560,000 TEUs, up about 10 percent from 508,000 TEUs in the previous year. Vallarpadam Container Transshipment Terminal, a DP World facility in Cochin port, handled 365,000 TEUs, compared with 347,000 TEUs.
