The sluggish growth during April to February followed a 10 percent increase in throughput during the previous fiscal year ended March 31, 2011.
Total volume for the 11-month period was estimated at 7.09 million 20-foot equivalent units compared with 6.87 million TEUs in the corresponding months in 2010-11. The tonnage of containerized traffic increased 6.72 percent year-over-year to 109.5 million tons from 102.6 million tons.
Box throughput at Jawaharlal Nehru (Nhava Sheva), the country’s largest container gateway, rose about 2 percent to 3.95 million TEUs from 3.89 million TEUs a year earlier.
Volume through Chennai Port increased 3.5 percent year-over-year to 1.43 million TEUs from 1.38 million TEUs.
Kolkata’s traffic increased to 505,000 TEUs from 482,000 TEUs.
Tuticorin handled 436,000 TEUs, compared with 421,000 TEUs. Cochin moved 306,000 TEUs, up from 282,000 TEUs.
Mumbai Port’s box traffic dropped to 54,000 TEUs from 68,000 TEUs a year earlier.
The IPA said total cargo tonnage via major ports during April to February was flat with the year-ago period at 511 million tons, amid clear indications that the 13 state-owned cargo hubs would miss targets set for fiscal year 2011-12 ending March 31.
Kandla emerged as the top cargo handler with throughput of 75.4 million tons, followed by Visakhapatnam, at 62.2 million tons; Nehru, at 60.2 million tons; and Chennai, at 51.3 million tons.