The Hindu Business Line : Most major ports fare better in Q1 but fall short of targets

THOUGH most of the major ports in the country including Visakhapatnam have failed to attain the targets set by the Ministry of Shipping during the first quarter, there has been improvement in their collective performance in comparison with the first quarter of 2002-2003.

According to the Indian Ports Association (IPA), the 13 major ports have improved upon their first quarter performance of 2002-03 by 5.61 per cent but lag behind the target for the first quarter of this fiscal by 1.20 per cent. Only four ports — New Mangalore, Mormugao, Mumbai and JNPT — could achieve the targets.

Port sources said that the Ministry had set the targets too high, with a 10 per cent across-the-board hike in the performance of 2002-03, not taking into account factors such as industrial output, foodgrain production and fertiliser consumption.

It is learnt that the ports have urged the Ministry to revise the targets and the latter agreed to consider the issue.

On the whole, the major ports handled 79.67 million tonnes of cargo during the first quarter against their performance during the corresponding period of last fiscal of 75.44 million tonnes and the target of 80.64 million tonnes.

Visakhapatnam - the number one port for the past three years - has had a difficult start this year, showing negative growth both in terms of the target and its own performance last year. The port handled 11.62 million tonnes of cargo during April-June showing a negative variation of 2.06 per cent against its own performance of 11.86 million tonnes during the corresponding months of 2002-03 and 6.37 per cent against the target of 12.41 million tonnes. This is attributed to the fall in the traffic of thermal coal and crude transhipment.

Nevertheless, in comparison with other major ports, Vizag continues to maintain its edge, its nearest competitor being Kandla port with traffic of 10 million tonnes during the first quarter, marking a 7.32 per cent growth. Chennai port has edged out Haldia Dock Complex and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) for the third position with traffic of 80.89 lakh tonnes.

Ennore port with 25.15 lakh tonnes posted the best growth rate of 30.18 per cent followed by Haldia Dock Complex 74.41 lakh tonnes (21.39 per cent), JNPT 74.73 lakh tonnes (13.97 per cent) and Paradip 65.26 lakh tonnes (11.61 per cent). Kolkata Dock System, Chennai and Kochi joined Vizag in reflecting negative growth trends against their own first quarter performances of 2002-03 by 1.36 per cent, 4.92 per cent and 5.50 per cent and respectively. The three ports handled cargoes of 10.19 lakh tonnes, 80.89 lakh tonnes and 31.11 lakh tonnes respectively during the first quarter.

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