Cargo handled at the twelve major ports in India between April and July grew by a marginal 1.17 percent year-on-year, to 180.1 million tonnes, against 178 million tonnes the year before, reported the Exim News Service.
The data mainly covers movements of products like iron ore, petroleum, oil and lubricants (POL), fertilisers and coal, besides container cargo.
Traffic volume at these major ports is still about five percent lower than the target of 189.6 million tonnes set by the Shipping Ministry for April to July.
Meanwhile, iron ore exports are suffering as China, which was on an iron ore buying spree, has not restored demand to the original level. A top Indian National Shipowners' Association (INSA) official said that he expected the trend to continue until the end of December 2009.
Elsewhere, container traffic declined by 5.4 percent with the major ports handling just 2.2 million TEU.
Tracey Jia
