A consistent drop in shipments of thermal coal and raw fertilizers dragged cargo growth of major ports between April and October. Cargo throughput of major ports stagnated in the period, clocking a growth of only 0.44 per cent. While thermal coal shipments subsided 17.69 per cent, raw fertilizers dropped by 4.61 per cent.
The performance of liquid cargo- crude oil and derivative products like LPG and LNG remained flat at 1.7 per cent. The major state owned ports of Kamarajar (Ennore), Chennai, New Mangalore, Mormugao and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) witnessed degrowth in the period.
For the major ports, the positive takeaways came from iron ore and finished fertilizer cargo. Iron ore shipments including pellets, surged by 28 per cent, logging the best growth in cargo throughput while finished fertilizer cargo spiked by 22 per cent.
