Adani Mundra Container Terminal (AMCT) at Mundra berthed M. V. Northern Jaguar of MSC lines

Container throughput at major ports in India for the April-December period surged 11 percent over the same period in fiscal 2009-10, the Indian Ports Association said Wednesday.

Total volume for the first three quarters of fiscal 2010-11 was estimated at 5.59 million 20-foot equivalent units, up from 5.04 million TEUs a year earlier.
The tonnage of container traffic climbed almost 13 percent to 83.5 million tons from 74 million tons.

The volume of containers handled by Jawaharlal Nehru (Nhava Sheva), the country’s largest container port, grew 7 percent to 3.2 million TEUs from 3 million TEUs.

The southeastern Port of Chennai handled 1.12 million TEUs compared with 886,000 TEUs, a gain of 26 percent on the year earlier period.
Kolkata’s throughput rose to 387,000 TEUs from 375,000 TEUs. Tuticorin moved 341,000 TEUs, up from 320,000 TEUs. Volume at Cochin was flat with the year-ago period at 219,000 TEUs.

According to the IPA, total tonnage at the 13 state-owned ports for April through December was up 1.1 percent to 416.6 million tons. Kandla was the top cargo handler with throughput of 61.4 million tons followed by Visakhatpatnam with 49.8 million tons.

Based on current growth trends, major ports are unlikely to reach the overall throughput target of 600 million tons set by the Shipping Ministry for 2010-11 ending March 31.

For fiscal 2009-10, India’s ocean trade through major ports was estimated at 561 million tons, up nearly 6 percent from 530.5 million tons the previous year. Container traffic increased 4.3 percent to 6.87 million TEUs from 6.59 million TEUs.