In figures just released from August, the 12 major ports in India noted a 12% increase in imported coal to 9.41mt (million tonnes). Imported thermal coal alone rose 14% to 6.81mt.

Last fiscal year, the same ports watched as imported thermal coal grew by 22% to 71.6mt, while coking coal consignments grew in size by 18.26% to 105mt. The 12 ports handle around 61% of total cargo traffic.

Imported coal is on the rise given that Coal India, the world’s largest coal miner, claims that there are insufficient rail links to shift more coal internally.

BC