Affected by disturbances caused due to COVID-19, India’s important ports continued to behold a decline in cargo handling, recording a 16.56 per cent drop to 245.04 million tonnes (MT) between April and August this financial year.
Cargo volumes at the country’s 12 major ports decreased for the fifth straight month in August 2020, and all ports barring Mormugao saw an adverse growth. These 12 ports had collectively managed 293.67 MT of cargo during April-August 2018-19, the Indian Ports Association (IPA) said in its latest report.
Ports, including Cochin, Chennai, and Kamrajar, noticed their cargo volumes drop about 30 per cent during April-August, while JNPT and Kolkata experienced a decline of over 20 per cent.
India has 12 major ports under the control of the central government include Deendayal (erstwhile Kandla), New Mangalore, Mumbai, JNPT, Mormugao, Cochin, Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Kamarajar (earlier Ennore), V O Chidambarnar, Paradip, and Kolkata (including Haldia).
While the Kamarajar port witnessed a 31.64 per cent drop in cargo handling to 9.11 MT, the Chennai port experienced a decline of 30.36 per cent to 14.42 MT in April-August, as per IPA data.
Cochin Port noticed a fall of 29.88 per cent to 10.04 MT during the period.
Cargo handling at JNPT port fell 25.53 per cent to 21.68 MT, while the same at Kolkata declined 23.74 per cent to 20.65 MT. Mumbai port logged a reduction of 19.31 per cent to 20.15 MT.
In the light of the COVID-19 outbreak, intense drops were observed in the handling of containers, coal, and POL (oil, petroleum, and lubricant), among other products.
These ports supervise about 61 per cent of the country’s total cargo traffic. These ports managed 705 MT of cargo past financial year.
