Notably, the major ports that had been showing slow growth reportedly registered the first double-digit cargo growth in October month. This financial year, the major ports had been showing slow growth but last month they witnessed a turnaround registering their first double-digit cargo growth this year. The major ports in question here are owned by the central government. To note, the Central government-owned major ports registered 13 percent cargo growth to post 70 million tonnes of goods, claimed the Indian Ports Association in the provisional data. As the major ports saw a cargo growth of double-digit for the first time in FY24, it attained the interest of the investors. If you are seeking details about the cargo growth of the ports owned by the central government, the following sections are waiting for you. Continue reading this article. Drag down.
The provisional data shared by the Indian Ports Association depicted that the ports handled 70 million tonnes (mt) of goods. Despite investing in infrastructure for capacity expansion and modernization, central government-owned major ports had been witnessing slow growth in parts of the previous financial year owing to the Ukraine-Russia war, with a neutral performance this financial year as well, partly due to global headwinds. The rate of growth in cargo in the first quarter of the current fiscal year between April and September was 2.4 percent. The spike in the October month has pushed FY24 cargo growth in major ports to almost 4 percent.
In October, Handling containers which account for nearly a fourth of all cargo at state-owned ports, surged 19 percent depicting higher movements of finished goods in the maritime economy. Till the second quarter of FY24, container handling had grown by 7 percent at major ports. It is not immediately clear from the provisional data whether the growth was driven by higher coastal movements of domestic goods or international trade.
While headwinds in the global economy have been cited by experts and officials earlier, state-owned ports this year have also faced criticism because private ports have seen faster growth in their cargo traffic. This paper reported that coastal cargo had seen almost no growth in major ports in FY24 while privately-owned ports had grown their traffic by 21 percent in the same period. Volumes of coking coal, thermal coal, and other industrial coal grew by 10 percent last month, and iron ore traffic more than doubled.