>INDIAN PORTS (MOTILAL OSWAL)

November 2009 cargo volume up 13% YoY: In November 2009, cargo traffic at major ports in India improved by 13% YoY to 48.2m tons (vs 42.5m tons YoY). Cargo traffic for November 2009 also grew by 3.4% MoM, on the back of 9.8% MoM growth for October 2009. This indicates pick-up in monthly run rate of cargo from 42.5m in Sep-09, 46.7m in Oct-09 and 48.2m in Nov-09. Also, the cargo traffic for the month of Nov-09 is the second highest monthly cargo since April 2008, next to 50.4m ton in March 2009. For YTDFY10, cargo traffic grew by 4.7% YoY to 362.8m tons.

Iron Ore, Container and Coal cargo are key drivers: For the month of November 2009, iron ore cargo grew by 16.4% YoY to 9.2m tons (vs 7.9m ton in November, 2008), while Container cargo grew by 15.2% YoY to 8m tons. Coal cargo up by 10.9% YoY to 6.2m ton, while fertilizers cargo grew marginally by 4.8% YoY. POL was the only category of cargo which reported a YoY decline of 2.7%, while other cargo grew by 40% YoY to 8.2m ton.

November 2009 cargo at major ports up by 13% YoY; Paradip port registers highest increase of 43% YoY in cargo traffic

Container cargo traffic at JNPT up by 9.7% YoY, vs total container traffic growth of 15.2% YoY: Container cargo traffic for the month of November 2009 stood at 8m ton, up by 15.2% YoY, while container traffic at JNPT stood at 4.3m ton, up by 9.7% YoY. This is however given lower base effect, as container cargo at JNPT started declining since November 2008 on YoY basis. During YTD FY10, container cargo handled by JNPT declined by 4.4% YoY to 34.1m ton
(vs 35.7m ton), which accounts for 53% of total container cargo (vs 56% in YTDFY09). The others ports have however been reporting a healthy growth in YTD FY10 container traffic: Chennai - up 14% YoY (15m ton), Tuticorin - up 12% YoY (4.2m ton), Kolkata - up 19% YoY (4.5m ton). These four ports cumulatively account for 57.8m tons of container traffic i.e. 89% of total container traffic.

Twelve ports register cargo traffic growth in November 2009; Paradip port registers highest increase of 43% YoY: During November 2009, twelve ports reported growth in traffic of which Paradip, Chennai, Vishakhapatnam, Mumbai volumes up 43%, 27%, 19% and 18% YoY, respectively. For Paradip port, Coal (41% of the total port cargo) cargo grew by 21% YoY, whereas cargo traffic growth at Chennai port was boosted by Container cargo.

Mundra International Container Terminal (MICT): Volumes for November 2009 grew by 3.4% YoY to 54,268 TEUs vs 52,484 TEUs in November 2008.

To read the full report: INDIAN PORTS