Iron ore shipments surge 154% through major ports

Mormugao port was biggest gainer with a volume of 9.34 mt compared to 1.49 mt in the year-ago period

Iron ore cargo through major ports has logged the sharpest growth among all commodities in April-December period. Till the end of December, iron ore shipments were up from 12.7 million tonne (mt) to 32.4 mt, a rise of 154 per cent.

In terms of iron ore traffic, Mormugao port was the biggest gainer with a volume of 9.34 mt compared to 1.49 mt in the year-ago period. Led by iron ore, the Mormugao port recorded the highest growth of 62.51 per cent among all the major ports. 

Waiver of 30 per cent export duty on low-grade iron ore fines and lumps (with iron content less than 62 per cent) chiefly from Goa buoyed export-bound iron ore cargo from the port. Other major ports on the eastern coast like Paradip and Visakhapatnam also witnessed significant volume growth in iron ore cargo. Revival in iron ore cargo has also helped the ports at Paradip and Visakhapatnam to post growth of 18 per cent and nine per cent respectively.

The other key cargo driver for major ports was liquid cargo comprising crude oil, Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and Liquefied natural gas (LNG). 

Liquid cargo movement through major ports was up 9.8 per cent till the end of December. Fertiliser cargo, however, decelerated in the April-December period. Finished fertilisers dipped 18 per cent while raw fertilisers saw a decline of 4.63 per cent.

Coal as a commodity also witnessed de-growth as thermal and steam coal traffic was down by 8.98 per cent, whereas coking coal cargo saw a marginal dip of 1.81 per cent.