According to the latest data released by the IPA, traffic at major government-owned/regulated ports in India fell by 4.2% YoY in February. Traffic has fallen in 9 out of 12 ports in February 2009. Tuticorin port has had the sharpest decline at 32% YoY. Traffic
at ports like JNPT and Kandla have fallen by 19% and 13% respectively.
Overall traffic for the period April 2008-February 2009 has grown by 2.24%YoY. However, most of the growth has been front-ended – while traffic grew by ~5.3% in the 7 months of Apr-Oct08, it has fallen by 2.6% in the last 4 months.
Container volumes have fallen off sharply, with volumes down 26.2% in February. Bulk cargo trends remain mixed, fertilizer and coking coal volumes are down 40% and 49%, respectively, whereas POL, iron ore and thermal coal volumes continue to grow. MICT terminal at Mundra, container throughput for the month of February was ~44325, down 34% YoY.