Coal news and updates

Cargo handling by major ports up 9% y-o-y in April

May 13: Cargo handling by 12 major ports in India increased by 8.90% to 47,374 tons in April 2014, compared to 43,501 tons in the same month a year ago, according to an official release by the Ministry of Shipping, mainly on the back of a sharp increase in iron ore handling.

In April last year (2013-14), there was a negative growth of 6% in cargo handling by major ports compared to the year before (2012-13).

During the month, iron ore handling by major ports increased 16.79% to 2,261 tons compared to 1,936 tons in the same month a year ago while coal handling in major ports increased by 6.74% to 9,222 tons compared to 8,640 tons in April 2013.

Of the total coal handling, steam coal handling at major ports increased nearly 14% to 6,372 tons in the month under review compared to 5,592 tons in April 2013. Coking coal handling during the month, however, dropped 6.50% to 2,850 tons compared to 3,048 tons in April 2013.

During April, 2014, Tuticorin Port (V.O. Chidambaranar) recorded the highest growth in traffic by 36.35% to 2, 637 tons compared to 1,934 tons in April 2013. The port is followed by Mumbai (31%) and Murmugao (23.2%) in comparison to April last year.

In terms of volumes, Kandla Port handled over 6.9 million tons last month, the highest among the ports in April 2014, with a share of 14.7%, followed by Paradip Port which handled over 6.4 million tons. In all, over 47 million tons were handled last month by various major ports of the country.

Total cargo traffic at India's major ports during 2013-14 was at 555.50 million tons, an increase of 1.8%, compared to 545.83 million tons handled in 2012-13.