Surge in Port traffic

Almost all the major ports across the country have recorded an alarming spurt in port traffic in the month of January as the total cargo handling by major ports reported a spurt of over 13.4 per cent to stand at 45 million tons (MT) as against 45.2 MT in December 2009. In addition to this, container volumes also registered a growth of over 31 per cent on year on year basis.

Reports suggests that the maximum surge was witnessed by Mormugao, Kolkata, Paradip, Tuticorin and new Mangalore ports as all of them recorded a growth ranging between 25 and 43 per cent year on year basis. However, traffic in ports like Haldia and Ennore recorded a decline of 21.8 percent and 25.6 per cent respectively. Container volumes also witnessed an increase of 31 per cent across all the major ports in January 2010 at 6.08 lakh TEUs as compared to 4.65 lakh TEUs during the corresponding period last fiscal.

Ports recorded an overall jump of about 463.2 millions tons for the period ending January 2010 as against 437.1 million tons during the corresponding period last year. Cargo volumes have also recorded a noticeable jump for the sixth consecutive month. A regular improvement in container traffic is a welcome sign for Container Freight Station (CFS) and also for rail haulage players of medium categories. Increase in cargo volumes was mostly driven by a 47 per cent growth in coal volumes on year on year basis.