India's major ports handle 316 million tonnes in April-Oct 2010

For the first seven-month period of the current fiscal, major ports handled 316.1 million tonnes (mt) traffic, registering 0.47 per cent higher traffic than the corresponding period last fiscal The commodity groups in which the major ports handled more traffic are fertiliser, coking coal and containers, whereas there was a dip in iron ore and thermal coke during the seven-month period.
However, the year-on-year growth rate of 0.47 per cent for the April-October period is lower than the corresponding data (1.23 per cent) for April-September period, according to the initial estimates of the Indian Port Association.
This is because the major ports handled 44.81 mt in October this year, a 3.94 per cent dip against the 46.65 mt of October 2009.
Amongst the ports, those that handled more this year are Kolkata (26.98 mt, 0.04 per cent growth), Chennai (36.91 mt with 3.26 per cent); Tuticorin (14.26 mt, 4.1 per cent); Kochi (10.38 mt, 14.27 per cent); Mormugao (22.41 mt, 10.8 per cent); Mumbai (32.13 mt, 2.87 per cent) and JNPT (36.46 mt, 6.61 per cent growth).
The ports that saw a dip in traffic are Paradip (30.9 mt, down 2.35 per cent); Visakhapatnam (38.27 mt, down 0.68 per cent); Ennore (5.58 mt, down 10.46 per cent); New Mangalore (18 mt, down 13.42 per cent); Kandla (43.78 mt, down 5.3 per cent).