In the midst of what appears to be an overall slowdown, the Cochin Port Trust has done relatively well in terms of cargo throughput during April-July this year with 5.42 per cent increase compared with other major ports in the country.
The latest figures released by the Indian Ports Association showed that Kochi did well compared with its counterparts among major ports such as Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Mumbai, as well as Chennai. These ports recorded a marginal decline in cargo throughput whereas ports like Paradip and Visakhapatnam recorded a substantial increase of 17.75 and 13.17 per cent respectively for the April-July period.
At the same time, Marmugao port’s case stands out. The port, helped by a significant increase in iron ore and coal traffic, saw cargo movement go up by nearly 86 per cent. Iron ore throughput at the port grew from 2,60,000 tonnes to 40,63,000 tonnes between the April-July period in 2015 and 2016, said the data from IPA. The Kandla port showed an increase in cargo traffic of over eight per cent.
Petroleum and petroleum products continue to be the mainstay of Kochi. The port handled a total nearly 50 lakh tonnes of petroleum products during the first four months of the current financial year. The total cargo traffic has increased at the Kochi port from 7.42 million tonnes to 7.82 million tonnes during the period.
