Minor ports in India are aggressively eating into the market share of their government-owned major ports, as shippers and ocean carriers frustrated with the growing delays at some of the leading public port complexes, including Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust and Chennai Port Trust, look for alternative port options.

   Non-Major ports known as minor ports’ cargo volumes are growing at 3 times the cargo throughput of Major ports. Customers are now utilising minor ports equipped with excellent infrastructure, deep draft to avoid congestion and other issues. The numbers speak for themselves! JOC stats show that Minor ports handled 226.7 million tons of cargo in the first fiscal half of 2014-2015, up 11.1 per cent from 204 million tons in the same period in 2013. That compares with just a 4 per cent year-over-year growth in total traffic at the 12 major ports in the same six-month period from April through September, with overall tonnage growing from....