News

    NEW DELHI/MUMBAI, FEB 25: CONTAINERISED sea  trade is apparently booming once again! Figures released by the Indian ports’ Association (IPA) for  January this year reveal that container volumes increased by 31 per cent across all the Major Ports during the month to 6.08 million TEUs, as against just 4.65 million TEUs in January 2009.

   This growth was mainly driven by Jawaharlal Nehru port (JNP), which registered 30 per cent growth during the period, while chennai port grew by 36 per cent.

   An industry player observed that the the steady improvement in containertraffic was positive for  container freight stations (CFSs) and railway transporters  (box operators) in the medium term.

  “we expect container volumes to remain buoyant, partly aided by the low -base effect during the same period last year,” he added .

   Over 6 Major Ports registered a double digit growth in January, with the total cargo handled registering a 13.4 per cent growth at 51.3 million tonnes, as against 45.2 million tonnes in December 2009.

  Major ports’ traffic was mainly driven by Paradip, Mormugao Kolkata, Tluticorin and New Mangalore Ports, which registered growth between 25 per cent and 43 per cent year -on-year.

  With a revival in the global demand, the sector is once again expected to see boom times, although the pace of growth may beslow.

   The increase in cargo volumes was mainly driven by a 47 per cent growth in coal volumes year-on-year. On a sequential baisis, coal volumes increased  by 19.2 per cent. Iron ore recorded an increase of 7 per cent year-on-year.

  The ports also registered an overall cargo growth of 463.2 million tonnes for the period ending January 2010 compared to, 437.1 million tonnes in the corresponding 10 months of 2008-09.