The impetus given by the Gujarat government over the past few years for minor ports in the state has now started to yield results. With Pipavav and Positra ports - backed by global shipping giants like Maersk and Sumitomo - increasing its throughput, Kandla port is finding it difficult to retain its numero uno status which it had achieved in 1998-99, point out industry observers. Kandla port had achieved the status, among all the major ports in India handling traffic worth 40 million metric tonne (mmt). The port subsequently declined to the third place in 1999-2000, after Vizag and Chennai.

In the month of October 2000, Kandla port registered a traffic of 2,925 mmt against 4,092 mmt in the corresponding month previous year.

Meanwhile, Vizag and Chennai continued its upward movement in throughput notching 3.4 mmt and 3.3 mmt respectively. Paradip and Tuticorin too handled almost twice the traffic posting 1.7 mmt and 1 mmt in October 2000, over the corresponding month last year. With the Reliance Petroleum project at Hazira being commissioned in Gujarat, it is likely to find a further decline in business of petroleum products. To add to Kandla's woes, the Vadinar Terminal of Essar along with other minor ports like Mundra and Bedi, its downfall in traffic has become imminent, point out observers. Besides, with the railway connectivity around Pipavav to further improve its throughput by December 2001, Kandla port is in an urgent needs to come up with a new strategy to drive enough traffic, they say.

Meanwhile, Positra port is already planning a special economic zone which would drive a sizeable chunk of business.