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India’s leading container port, JN Port Trust (JNPT), has broken its own container throughput record, handling 4.8 million teu in the financial year to the end of March 2018. This represented a growth rate of 7.4 per cent compared with the 4.5 million teu throughout recorded in 2016-17.
JNPT has five container terminals and Gateway Terminal India was the market leader, with a throughput of 2.03 million teu. It was followed by the port authority-owned JNPCT, with 1.48 million teu, NSIGT and NSICT which together handled 1.3 million teu, and the newly opened BMCTPL facility, which handled 23, 212 teu.
JNPT attributes the increase in throughput partly to the implementation of a number of trade friendly initiatives, including the Direct Port Delivery (DPD) system, which has helped port users save time and money.
A statement from JNPT said: “It is heartening to note that the trade has started increasingly to accept the DPD mode and its share of traffic has gone up to 39.5 per cent.” The port is planning to expand the DPD system still further and recently awarded contracts to four logistics companies to operative five additional DPD routes. These will run from JNPT to Gujarat; to Goa and Bengaluru; to Nashik, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Indore and Hyderabad; to Ahmednagar; and to local regions in and around Mumbai.
JNPT has a number of infrastructure upgrade projects underway or planned. These include deepening and widening the channels at Mumbai Harbour and JN Port, the modernisation of cargo handling equipment, the development of more dry ports and the creation of satellite coastal ports.
The Gateway Terminal India terminal in JNPT is operated by APM Terminals Mumbai. The facility’s 2.3 million teu throughput was the terminal’s highest volume performance since it was built in 2006. APM Terminals Mumbai handled over 633 vessels over the course of the year and accounted for 42% of the port’s total container volume.
Commenting on the achievement, Ravi Gaitonde, managing director of APM Terminals Mumbai, said, “This success is a result of the cooperation extended by the entire trade community including the cargo owners, Container Freight Station operators, transporters, rail operators and the port and customs authorities. We are continuously looking for ways to improve our service offering and increase the efficiency of the terminal to remain terminal of choice for our customers.”
