Kandla Port continues to become India’s no.1 major port

Gujarat based Kandla Port continues to become India’s no.1 port with 81.88 mmt(79.5 mt in 2009-10) traffic handling.

Interacting with media persons , Kandla Port Trust Chairman Shri P.D.Vaghela said on Tuesday that KPT will purchase power from open market and will supply to users in future. He said KPT’s goal 2020 is 175 mmt handling. Presently KPT enjoys 85.80 mmt handling capacity with 95% use. This volume was achieved amid 46-day long heavy rain in Kutch, global slowdown and tough competition with private ports that have latest technology and equipments.

Kandla contributes 14% to India’s total port volume.

Vaghela said construction work of new 13 no. jetty is going on and its completion will take 18 months time. Soon the work for 15 and 16 no. jetty will also start. Project for satellite port in Tuna Tekra is proposed. Once it is completed, it will add 20-25 mmt capacity to Kandla port. Strengthening work on jetty no. 6-10 is on. Once it is completed water draft will be 14 meter from present 12-13 meter. This will open possibilities of operating bigger ships.

Picture of all Indian ports

During 2010-11 fiscal, the country’s major ports handled a total of 569.90 million tonnes (mt) of traffic, up from 561.09 mt in 2009-10 thus posting a meagre 1.57 per cent growth, according to tentative figures available with the Indian Ports Association.

In 2009-10, the growth was 5.8 per cent.

volume

Volumewise, the Kandla port topped the list with a throughput of 81.88 mt (79.5 mt in 2009-10) followed Visakhapatnam 68.04 mt (65.50 mt), the Jawaharlal Nehru port 64.29 mt (60.76 mt), Chennai 61.46 mt (61.05 mt) and Paradip 56.03 mt (57.01 mt).

However, in terms of growth, Tuticorin was number one, posting 8.16 per cent growth at a throughput of 25.73 mt (23.78 mt), followed by the JNPT, 5.82 per cent at 64.29 mt (60.76 mt), Haldia (excluding Kolkata Dock System), 4.54 per cent at 34.89 mt (33.37 mt) and Visakhapatnam, 3.88 per cent at 68.04 mt (65.5 mt).

Kandla posted a growth of 2.99 per cent at 81.88 mt (79.5 mt).

Low growth

Other ports posting low growth included Ennore 2.86 per cent at 11 mt (10.7 mt), Kochi 2.55 per cent at 17.87 mt (17.42 mt) and Mormugao 2.41 per cent at 50.02 mt (48.84 mt).

The Kolkata port, i.e. Kolkata Dock System and Haldia dock together, posted a growth of 2.17 per cent at 47.43 mt (46.42 mt).

Chennai posted a meagre 0.66 per cent growth at 61.46 mt (61.05 mt) and Mumbai 0.08 per cent at 54.58 mt (54.54 mt).

Negative growth

The three ports which posted negative growth in traffic were New Mangalore, a decline of 11.2 per cent at 31.55 mt (35.52 mt), the Kolkata Dock System (excluding Haldia), a drop of 3.87 per cent at 12.54 mt (13.04 mt) and Paradip, a drop of 1.72 per cent at 56.03 mt (57.01 mt).

Commoditywise, the highest growth was recorded in the throughput of finished fertilisers – 13.47 per cent at 12.41 mt ( 10.9 mt in 2009-10), followed by containers 12.64 per cent at 114.04 mt (101.24 mt) and raw fertilisers 12.42 per cent at 7.6 mt (6.77 mt).

In terms of TEUs, the container traffic growth however was lower at 9.37 per cent at 7.53 million TEUs (6.89 million TEUs). Iron ore throughput posted a decline of 12.98 per cent at 87 .3 mt ( 100.03 mt) while thermal coal a growth of 2.03 per cent at 44.2 mt (43.37 mt), coking coal a meagre 0.58 per cent growth at 28.49 mt (28.33 mt) and POL 3.02 per cent at 180.36 mt (175.08 mt).

The throughput of other cargo posted a growth of 0.42 per cent at 95.41 mt (95 mt).

Tags: Kandla Port