State-owned ports post 4.31% cargo growth in current fiscal

India’s 12 state-owned ports loaded 4.31 percent more cargo or 606.37 million tonnes (mt) in the year ended 31 March mainly on account of higher coal shipments.

In 2014-15, the ports of Kandla, Mumbai, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, VO Chidambaranar, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Paradip, Haldia and Kolkata, handled a combined 581.34 mt of cargo.The 12 ports handle about 55 percent of India’s external trade by volume shipped by sea.

None of these ports are listed because they are run as trusts.

“The traffic in major ports (state-owned) has shown a healthy growth of more than 4 percent in the last two years, despite a global slowdown,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a maritime summit in Mumbai on 14 April.

“The operating profit margins (of the 12 ports) which were declining have increased. In 2015-16 alone, the operating profit of the 12 major ports has increased by nearly Rs.6.7 billion rupees (Rs.670 crores),” Modi said. Strong thermal coal shipments through the 12 ports played a big part in the annual cargo growth.

Thermal coal loadings grew 16.2 percent to 99.14 mt from 85.34 mt a year earlier as power stations imported more coal, according to data from the Indian Ports Association (IPA), which represents the 12 ports.

During the year, Kandla port located in Gujarat became the first state-owned port and the second in India to handle 100 mt of cargo in a year. For the ninth year in a row, Kandla retained its pole position as India’s biggest state-owned cargo handler by volume, handling 100.1 mt of cargo, 8.17 percent more than the 92.5 mt handled a year earlier.

“Civilian use of UAS includes damage assessment of property and life in areas affected with natural calamities, surveys; critical infrastructure monitoring….UA operations present problems to the regulator in terms of ensuring safety of other users of airspace and persons on the ground,” the DGCA said.