JNPT container traffic reaches 2-year high in December

Container traffic at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust spiked 9.9 per cent to 4,59,920 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit) in December 2020 as compared to the year-ago period, the port operator said on Monday.

The overall traffic at the port grew 10.04 per cent to 6.37 million tons in the previous month from the 5.79 million tons handled in December-2019, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) said in a release.

The container traffic handled in December was the highest in the last 24 months, JNPT said.

Also in rail operations, the port handled a record 556 rakes in December last year, it said, adding that the average monthly terminal handling time of trains improved to 4:42 hours in the previous month from 6:18 hours in September.

The average monthly turn-around time of trains (from placement to removal of trains) also reduced to 9:35 hours in December from 13:34 hours in September, it said.

In CY2020, the total container traffic handled by the port stood at 4.47 million TEUs, with APM Terminals Mumbai (GTI) handling 1.69 million TEUs, DP World NSIGT and NSICT handling 0.77 million TEUs and 0.64 million TEUs, respectively, JNPT said in the release.

Besides, JNPCT handled 0.56 million TEUs and BMCT handled 0.81 million TEUs.

The overall traffic handled in the CY2020 was 62.32 million tonnes including liquid and other cargo, it said.

“CY2020 has been a challenging year for all of us but we can look back with a certain degree of satisfaction on what we did to keep JNPT up and running and help maintain the supply of essential goods and trade flows critical for the country,” said Sanjay Sethi, Chairman, JNPT.