Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that the “Blue Economy” was proving to be a catalyst in India’s progress and the performance of major sea ports was a “clear indicator” of that. Gadkari’s remarks in November came as he reviewed in Goa the performance of all ports in the country. According to the Shipping Ministry, India’s major ports had recorded a growth of 3.27 per cent during April-September period and collectively handled 383 million tonnes of cargo as against 371 million tonnes handled during the corresponding period of the previous year.

“The highest growth was registered by Cochin Port (17.66 per cent), followed by Kolkata, New Mangalore and Paradip with growth of about 12 per cent,” the Ministry said in a statement. During the April-September period, Kandla Port handled the highest volume of traffic (63.13 million tonnes), followed by Paradip with 55.78 million tonnes, JNPT with 37.90 million tonnes, Mumbai with 36.72 million tonnes, and Visakhapatnam with 35.74 million tonnes. “Together, these five ports handled around 60 per cent of major port traffic,” it added.