India’s FY26 Port Sector Delivers Historic Sweep

Kandla 160 MMT, JNPA 8.17 Million TEUs, Paradip 156 MMT and APSEZ Crosses 500 MMT

India’s major port sector closed financial year 2025-26 with an extraordinary sweep of records that, taken together, represent the most impressive single-year performance in the history of Indian maritime infrastructure — a feat made all the more remarkable for being achieved during the most disruptive five-week maritime crisis in modern history in its final month.

Deendayal Port Authority, Kandla, registered the headline number: 160.11 million metric tonnes of cargo, the highest throughput ever recorded by any Indian major port, representing a 7 per cent year-on-year improvement over last year’s 150 MMT despite a high base. Containers surged 54 per cent, iron and steel grew 43 per cent, fertilisers rose 32 per cent, and liquid cargo climbed 23.4 per cent — a diversified growth profile that reflects genuine trade deepening rather than a single commodity spike.

JNPA: 102 MT Total Cargo and 8.17 Million TEUs

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority delivered an equally landmark performance, handling 102 million tonnes of total cargo and 8.17 million TEUs in FY26 — growth of 10.74 per cent and 11.94 per cent respectively versus FY25. Among JNPA’s five terminals, Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals (PSA International) led with 18.36 per cent growth, reaching 2.687 million TEUs — its best annual performance since inception. PSA Mumbai also set a single-month record in March, handling 277,705 TEUs in one month. PSA Chennai added 89,965 TEUs in March, itself a record for that terminal.

Paradip, Haldia, New Mangalore and APSEZ

Paradip Port Authority entered the 155-plus MMT club with 156.45 million metric tonnes — its highest-ever throughput, driven by strong coastal cargo handling and logistics efficiency improvements. New Mangalore Port Authority recorded 50.04 million tonnes in its landmark 50th financial year. Haldia Dock Complex set a container record of 2,15,538 TEUs, up 19.68 per cent versus FY25. These east coast performances, taken together, demonstrate that India’s port growth in FY26 was geographically broad-based rather than concentrated on the traditionally dominant west coast ports.

APSEZ, India’s largest private port developer, crossed the cumulative milestone of 500 million tonnes of cargo handled across its network of 15 domestic ports, 4 international ports, and 12 multimodal logistics parks. The company noted that while it took 16 years to reach the first 100 million tonnes, successive 100 MMT milestones have arrived in progressively shorter timeframes — a reflection of network scale effects and improving operational efficiency. Indian Railways also reported its highest-ever freight movement in FY26, with record volumes of coal, cement, steel, food grains, and fertilisers, completing a picture of an Indian logistics ecosystem that entered FY27 in its strongest recorded condition despite the Hormuz headwinds of March.