Cochin Port achieved a record high cargo throughput of 17.43 million tonnes in the last fiscal, the Cochin Port Trust said here on Monday.
This was almost two million tonnes more than the 15.49 million tonnes of cargo the port handled in 2008-09 - a growth rate of 12.50 per cent, the port said in a statement.
Though the port’s traditional cargo like coal, fertilizers and industrial salt fell by about 10 per cent, the deficit was more than compensated by higher volumes in liquid bulk, especially petroleum products, and in general cargo like cement, iron scrap and timber logs.
During the period, an increase of about 11 per cent in container traffic was registered with a total of 289,817 twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) containers as against 260,784 TEUs handled in 2008-09.
The vessel traffic also registered an increase of 18 per cent, while the average turn around time of ships showed an improvement of three per cent. The average ship berth day output also registered an improvement of two per cent.
Cochin Port hosted 44 cruise ships on international calls and seven high-seas overnight voyages, which is the highest among all Indian Ports so far.
The port has set a target of 19.11 million tonnes of cargo throughput for 2010-11.
