India’s major port in Mumbai, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) has bucked the country’s container volume trend with a substantial increase in container throughput by both weight and TEU.
JNPT recorded an overall 9.04% of container growth at 5.70 million tonnes in November 2020 compared to 5.22 million tonnes in November last year. The cargo volumes translated to a growth of 7.61% at 413,737TEU for the month, compared to November 2019.
The passage of cargo through the port has been aided by the newly developed Centralised Parking Plaza (CPP) at JNPT, which opened in October this year. CPP handled 43,619 tractor-trailers in November carrying 68,909TEU.
CPP is expected to streamline the movement of traffic as well as to improve efficiency at the port using IT services.
JNPT Chairman – Sanjay Sethi said that the November numbers for cargo handled point to a recovery and that the positive trend will continue into the last quarter of the present fiscal year. “Our port will continue to support the country’s economic growth and perform its duties to maintain the growth trajectory of the port sector”, assured Sethi.
In a stellar performance by JNPT the port complex managed to improve its volume throughput even as the minister was warning of a Covid-19-related dip in activity.
Commodities including containers, coal, petroleum, oil and lubricants have all seen a sharp decline this year, with the country’s shipping Minister Mansukh Mandaviya alerting Parliament in September that a fall in cargo traffic would be recorded, but also assured that a recovery had started in June.
Sheuly Ghosh
Indian Correspondent
