Coal news and updates

Cargo handling by India’s major port’s up 4.65% in FY15

April 7: Cargo handling by twelve major ports of India rose 4.65% to 581.34 million tons (mt) in 2014-15 (FY15) from 555.49 mt recorded in 2013-14 (FY 14), according to data released by Indian Ports Association (IPA).

The country’s major ports handled a total of 32.82 mt of coking coal in FY15, slightly up from 32.75 mt handled in the previous fiscal, the data revealed.

Movement of thermal coal through the major ports was up 20.36% to 85.90 mt during FY15, compared to 71.37 mt achieved last year.

Among the major ports, Paradip port had the distinction of handling the highest volume of thermal coal of around 30.14 mt in FY15 followed by Kamrajar Port (24.02 mt). Paradip Port handled 7.88 mt of coking coal during the period- the highest quantity among major ports.

Movement of coking coal through Kolkata, Paradip and New Mangalore ports increased during FY15 compared to previous fiscal.

According to data released by the Indian Ports Association (IPA), movement of iron ore through the major ports showed a significant drop of 36.92% in FY15 due to restrictions on mining and hike in the export duty on iron ore. The major ports together handled 16.54 mt of iron ore in FY15 period, compared to 26.22 mt handled previous fiscal.

Vishakhapatnam port handled the highest volume of 8.30 mt of iron ore in FY15. This volume, however, was lower than 13.03 mt iron ore traffic moved through the port in FY14.

In terms of growth, Mormugao port topped the list with 25.32% in cargo throughput in FY15 on a year-on-year basis while JNPT’s growth was the lowest at 2.36%during the period.

In terms of traffic volumes, Kandla Port continued to clinched the top rank with cargo volumes of 92.50 mt recorded for the period up from 87 mt handled in FY14.

The New Mangalore port registered the highest decline of 7.17% in traffic handling during the period due to a fall in iron ore exports.