Impact of Cargo Traffic Growth on Shipping Performance at Major Ports in India (1994-95 to 2009-10)

This paper examines the impact of the growth in the overall cargo traffic performance over the shipping performance at the major ports of India during the period 1994-95 to 2009-10. Some statistical tools like Bivariate and Multiple Regression Analyses with diagrammatical representations are used for the purpose. The paper concludes with the major findings that the shipping performance in terms of the growth of total vessels is significant in response to both the growth of total and category–wise cargo traffic respectively over the said period. This may be primarily due to the dominant rise in the total bulk cargo vessels rather than the container cargo vessels, though there is a significant growth in container traffic. In particular, the liquid bulk cargo has a greater impact on the growth of total shipping, though there is a significant growth of liquid bulk cargo in total cargo traffic.