Cargo handling at top 12 ports marginally up at 705 MT in FY20

Cargo handling rose marginally to nearly 705 million tonnes (MT) at the country's 12 major ports 2019-20 over the previous fiscal, according to official data. These ports had handled 699.10 million tonnes (MT) cargo in 2018-19. The growth at these ports, that had handled 679.37 MT cargo in 2017-18, was driven mainly by higher handling of containers, coal and fertilisers.

The 12 major ports are -- Deendayal (erstwhile Kandla), Mumbai, JNPT, Marmugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Kamarajar, V O Chidambarnar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia). "During April 2019 to March, 2020, Container tonnage and TEUS were 146934 and 9988 thousand respectively, whereas it was 145451 and 9877 thousand during April to March, 2019. There was growth of 1.02% in Container tonnage and 1.12% in ContainerTEUs," a report said.