V.O Chidambaranar Port handles 37 mn tonnes record cargo traffic

New Delhi, March 19 : V.O. Chidambaranar Port, formerly called Tuticorin Port in Tamil Nadu, and one of the 12 major ports in the country, has handled record cargo traffic of 36.91 million tonnes so far this fiscal, registering a growth of 4.77 per cent over the same period last year, an official said on Sunday

"The port has handled a record traffic of 36.91 million tonnes till March 17, 2017, with an impressive cargo growth at 4.77 per cent as compared with the same period of last financial year," a Shipping Ministry statement said here.

"The cargo that contributed to this record performance includes, coal to NTPL (64.11 per cent), wheat (433.61 per cent), lime stone(8.37 per cent), phosphoric acid (106.42 per cent), fertilisers (16 per cent), fertiliser raw materials (7.18 per cent), construction materials (28.75 per cent), and containerised cargo (5 per cent)," it said. 

The port has also made an achievement in container traffic by handling 6,13,617 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) up to March 17 and crossed the previous financial year's record of 6,11,714 TEUs, it added.