New Mangalore Port Q1 cargo handling up 10.8%

New Mangalore Port has registered a 10.81 per cent growth in cargo handling in the first quarter of the current financial year. The port handled 9.02 million tonnes of traffic during the first quarter of 2009-10 against 8.14 mt in the corresponding period of 2008-09. Speaking to Business Line, Mr P. Tamilvanan, Chairman of New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT), attributed this growth to the increase in handling of cargoes such as iron ore, maize and containers among others.
The port handled 2.1 mt of iron ore fines during the first quarter of the current fiscal against 1.64 mt in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, a growth of 28 per cent.
During the quarter, the port handled maize cargo to the tune of 1.2 lakh tonnes (37,000 tonnes). Fertiliser cargo witnessed a growth of 55 per cent during the quarter with the port handling 2.8 lakh tonnes (1.8 lakh tonnes) of cargo.
The port handled 8,164 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers during the period against 7,563 TEUs. In terms of quantity, the port handled 1.34 lakh tonnes (1.08 lakh tonnes) of container cargo.
The volume of edible oil handled at the port increased to 1.4 lakh tonnes (61,000 tonnes). Crude oil handling increased to 3 mt (2.6 mt), and POL handling reached 1.3 mt (1.2 mt).