Iron ore cargo, both imports and exports, has surged 142 per cent in the April-September period of this fiscal, mirroring a revival in growth of the key ingredient in steel making.
Iron ore, inclusive of pellets, outperformed all commodities in terms of traffic volume at the major ports in the period. Total iron ore traffic handled by the major ports stood at 17.75 million tonne in the period compared with 7.2 million tonne in the comparable period of 2015-16.
The biggest gainer among all the major ports was Mormugao where iron ore cargo zoomed from 0.2 million tonne to 4.1 million tonne. Iron ore traffic was predominantly export driven. With the resumption of iron ore mining operations in Goa and lifting of 30 per cent export duty in 2016-17 Budget, exports of low grade ore have got a huge fillip. In fact, iron ore accounted for more than a third of Mormugao’s total cargo traffic of 13.07 million tonne, helping the port to register 61 per cent growth in the period, the highest among the major ports.
In terms of volume, Visakhapatnam led iron ore traffic with a total volume of 5.2 million tonne, more than double of 2.2 million tonne the eastern sector port handled in the comparable period of last fiscal.
Paradip port too recorded a stellar performance, logging iron ore traffic of four million tonne, up from a low of 0.5 million tonne.
Iron ore dwarfed all other commodities shipped through the major ports. Liquid cargo consisting of crude oil, LPG and LNG logged 6.71 per cent growth while coking coal growth remained flat at 0.59 per cent. Other commodities like fertilisers and thermal coal posted negative cargo growth.
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