NEW DELHI: Total cargo handled by major ports increased by 4.3 per cent to 606.37 million tonnes last fiscal as against 581.34 million tonnes in 2014-15, Parliament was informed today. “Overall traffic handled by the major ports during 2015-16 has been 606.37 million tonnes (MT) which represents an increase of 4.3 per cent over the cargo handled of 581.34 MT during the previous year 2014-15,” said Pon Radhakrishnan, Minister of State for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
The minister further said that major ports have continued their recovery and improvement in efficiency parameters like turnaround time has lowered logistic cost for the trade. He further said that 94 MTPA of capacity was added to the ports in FY16 which in the highest ever in a single year. The capacity of the major ports as on March 31 increased to 965 MTPA from 871.52 MTPA in March 2015.
“Operating income of major ports has increased at the rate of 8 per cent from 2014-15 (Rs 10,190 crore) to 2015-16 (Rs 10,961 cr). Operating surplus has seen an increase of 19 per cent from 2014-15 (Rs 3,593 cr) to 2015-16 (Rs 4,268 cr). Operating margin has increased from 35 per cent in 2014-15 to 39 per cent in 2015-16,” the minister said.
