Major ports see 19 pc surge in thermal coal imports in April-June

New Delhi: India's top 12 major ports reported a 19.32 per cent surge in imports of thermal coal to 28.28 million tonnes during April-June this year, latest report from Indian Ports Association (IPA) has said.

The centre-owned ports had handled 23.70 million tonnes (MT) of the thermal coal in the corresponding period of the previous financial year. The Indian Ports Association (IPA), which maintains cargo data handled by these 12 ports, in its recent report has said that "percentage variation from previous year" in thermal coal handling was at 19.32 per cent in the first three months of the current fiscal.

As far as coking and other coal is concerned, its handling recorded a jump of 6.85 per cent during the first quarter of the current fiscal at 13.03 MT. Thermal coal is the mainstay of India's energy programme as 70 per cent of power generation is dependent on the dry fuel, while coking coal is used mainly for steel-making.

India is the third-largest producer of coal after China and the US and has 299 billion tonnes of resources and 123 billion tonnes of proven reserves, which may last for over 100 years.

Major ports in India together recorded a growth of 3.91 per cent and together handled 174.02 MT of cargo during the period April to June 2018, as against 167.48 MT handled during the corresponding period of previous year.

For the period from April- June 2018, nine ports - Kolkata (including Haldia), Paradip, Visakhapatnam, Kamarajar, Chennai, Cochin, New Mangalore, JNPT and Deendayal (Kandla) Port had registered positive growth in traffic.

India has 12 major ports — Kandla, Mumbai, JNPT, Marmugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Ennore, V O Chidambarnar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia) which handle approximately 61 per cent of the country's total cargo traffic.