India’s port volumes predicted to quadruple by 2025
India’s ports are set to handle four times as much cargo within the next eight years, but volumes will remain very far behind neighbour China, according to a report from the Associated Chambers of Commerce of India.
The report – Indian ports sector: Challenges of scale and efficient operations – illustrates how maegre the nation’s port volumes are today – both overall and in terms of containers – when compared to China’s.
India’s total containerised cargo capacity of 8.75m teu at its 12 major ports is less than a quarter of the boxes handled at the port of Shanghai for instance.
India’s ports, however, are rapidly expanding traffic. Last year India’s top 12 ports handled a combined 647m tonnes – less than the throughput at the Chinese port of Ningbo-Zhoushan. However, the new report suggests India’s main ports will be handling 2.5bn tonnes by 2025.
The report calls for rapid development of infrastructure at India’s existing top ports and a greater use of containers as a mode of freight transport across the nation.