September 25, 2020: India’s containerized trade is slowly recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, but a JOC.com analysis of the latest port data suggests a shift in historical traffic patterns: volume gains are being driven more by exports than imports.
In the first five months of fiscal year 2020-21, which began in April, the country’s 12 major public ports together handled 3.2 million TEU, excluding transshipment, a 25 percent year-over-year drop. Of this, outbound freight accounted for approximately 50 percent (1.6 million TEU), up from 47 percent (2.03 million TEU) in the same 2019 period.
Throughput figures for August provide an even more stark example of this trend. Of a total of 749,086 TEU handled by public ports, 50.7 percent (379,647 TEU) were exports. By contrast, of the 869,452 TEU handled during August 2019, exports accounted for 46.5 percent (404,214 TEU).
Industry leaders cite two key factors behind the lag in import growth, a consumer demand crisis caused by weakening economic conditions and a desire to source more goods locally following recent border disputes with China.
Although the decline in both imports and exports has moderated during the summer months, it’s still too early to tell if this will continue, according to domestic credit rating firm ICRA.
“The fiscal year 2021 outlook for the port sector remains negative, and although there are early signs of recovery as witnessed by trends in July, the sustainability remains to be seen,” ICRA said in a statement. “The recovery in segments like containers may be more prolonged due to dependence on both domestic economic activity and global demand trends.”
ICRA projects general cargo handling at Indian ports will fall 6 to 8 percent in fiscal 2020-21, but the agency expects containerized traffic to shrink 12 to 15 percent for the full year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting recession.
India’s private terminals are also regaining lost volume at a quicker pace than their public counterparts. So-called minor gateways saw their combined total cargo tonnage drop 8.2 percent year over year in August, significantly lower than the 16.6 percent slide reported by public ports.
The private Port of Mundra, for example, handled 450,079 TEU last month (including transshipment), a 6 percent rise from July and a 12 percent gain from August 2019, while throughput at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), India’s busiest container gateway, tumbled 18.7 percent year over year to 352,738 TEU.
Source: JOC
