Jawaharlal Nehru Port, which handles 55 per cent of the country's container traffic, reported a 29.6 per cent fall in container cargo.
Cargo traffic at major ports remained stable for the second successive month in January, CMIE said. Major ports handled 45.3 million tonnes of cargo traffic during January.
Kandla port was the busiest port in the month as it handled 5.7 million tonnes of cargo traffic. It was followed by Mormugao and Vishakhapatnam handling 5.4 million tonnes and five million tonnes, respectively.
Major ports are expected to handle 526.5 million tonnes of cargo traffic in 2008-09, up 1.4 per cent compared to year-on-year, CMIE said.
"We expect cargo traffic at major ports to grow by 5.2 per cent to 553.9 million tonnes in 2009-10," it said.
In January, iron ore traffic at major ports jumped 30 per cent for the second consecutive month. "This jump in traffic was led by an increase in China's iron ore imports," the report said.
As a result, Mormugao port handled 43.1 per cent of the total iron ore cargo traffic and reported a robust 37.5 per cent growth in cargo traffic, it said.
Cochin port saw a 41.3 per cent decline in petroleum, oil and lubricants cargo traffic.
"Cochin port reported the sharpest decline in cargo traffic among all major ports," it said.
There are 12 major ports in the country.