Deendayal Port Authority Kandla Posts 21% Growth in Cargo Handling, Crosses 62.86 Million Tonnes

Deendayal Port Authority, Kandla, has recorded a 21.03 percent year-on-year increase in cargo handling, moving 62.86 million metric tonnes of cargo up to August 9, 2026, compared with 51.94 million metric tonnes handled during the corresponding period a year earlier, according to figures released by the port authority.

Kandla, on Gujarat's Gulf of Kutch coast, ranks among India's largest major ports by cargo volume and functions as a key gateway for the country's northwestern hinterland, handling bulk commodities, containerised cargo and petroleum products that move through the port's multiple berths and jetties. Growth of this magnitude at a major port typically reflects both expanded berth capacity and stronger throughput in bulk cargo categories such as coal, fertiliser raw materials and edible oil, which form a significant share of Kandla's traffic. The port's catchment extends deep into Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and parts of northern India, making its throughput a useful indicator of industrial and agricultural trade activity across a wide stretch of the country's interior. As one of a dozen major ports administered directly by the Centre, Kandla's tonnage figures are also closely watched within the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways as a barometer of overall major-port performance for the year.

The port is chaired by Sushil Kumar Singh, an officer of the Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineering from the 1993 batch, who took charge as Chairman in 2024 after serving as Joint Secretary handling ports, public-private partnerships and human resource development in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. Singh succeeded S.K. Mehta, an Indian Forest Service officer who completed a five-year tenure at the port's helm, and his term runs until his superannuation in January 2027. His background in railway mechanical engineering, followed by a headquarters stint overseeing port PPPs, gave him direct exposure to the kind of capacity-expansion and private-participation projects now under way at Kandla.

Kandla's cargo volumes have been on a sustained upward trajectory through the current administration's tenure, with the port crossing multiple tonnage milestones over recent fiscal years even as it continues capital works to expand berth capacity and mechanise cargo-handling operations. Port officials have periodically highlighted milestone crossings during the fiscal year as markers of this trajectory, with the port surpassing the 150-million-tonne mark for the full year with more than two weeks still remaining on the fiscal calendar in a recent cycle, according to figures the port authority has shared with shipping lines and cargo agents.

The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has been pushing major ports including Kandla to accelerate green and sustainability-linked infrastructure alongside capacity expansion, with the port authority having begun site work on an e-methanol production facility as part of the sector's decarbonisation push. Ministry Secretary Vijay Kumar visited the port in December to inaugurate development projects worth ₹193 crore spanning capacity, efficiency and sustainability initiatives, a visit port officials point to as a marker of the Centre's continued attention to Kandla's expansion plans.

DPA Kandla's growth this year builds on the port's positioning as one of the busiest points in India's western maritime corridor, a role that has taken on additional significance amid broader supply-chain attention on chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz that affect shipping routes serving Indian ports. Sustaining double-digit growth will require the port to keep pace with berth mechanisation and rail-linked evacuation capacity, areas where capital works are still under way, alongside continued dredging to accommodate larger vessels calling at its deeper-draft berths.

Deendayal Port Authority Chairman Sushil Kumar Singh described the growth trajectory as reflecting the port's operational momentum, in a statement marking the milestone this week.