In a reversal of usual trends, central government-owned ports, also called major ports, have outpaced their private and state-government counterparts in cargo traffic growth to date this financial year, the data from the ministry of ports, ship ping, and waterways shows. During 2024-25, cargo handled at major ports increased by almost 5 per cent to 348.06 million tonnes (MT), driven by a 4.9 per cent increase in overseas cargo and 5.2 per cent increase in coastal cargo.
This is a major uptick for the major ports after Covid. On the other hand, private and state-government ports, also called non-major ports, saw a 2.8 per cent increase in their cargo over the same period. While growth in overseas cargo, at 4.29 per cent, has been competitive against major ports, a major decline in coastal cargo has left non-major ports lagging.
“Major ports have been aggressively trying to capture cargo, with tariffs much lower than some of the prominent ports in their vicinity. Coastal cargo too is improving for major ports this year after no improvement this time last year,” a senior government official said.
The shift in coastal cargo movement is tilting faster in favour of major ports this financial year. Coastal cargo traffic for major ports in August increased 10 per cent to 15.7 MT, while that for non-major ports fell to 1.3 MT.
Crude oil, fertilisers dampen the growth of private ports According to experts, the import of crude oil, which is among the most shipped commodities at Indian ports, through private and state government ports has moderated as several refineries like Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Indian Oil and Nayara Energy took a planned shutdown in FY25 year-to-date, which impacted exports in petroleum products.
However, container volumes remain the bright spot, growing sharply 23.5 per cent year-on-year at non-major ports.
