SINGAPORE's PSA India container terminals have posted new monthly record throughputs, reflecting the strong recovery in the Indian economy, reports Dubai's Maritime Standard.

Moreover, 2021 has got off to a positive start with the arrival of Wan Hai 507 at PSA Mumbai on January 3 as part of the new joint Wan Hai Lines / Interasia Lines CI2 / ICI service.

The service will be maintained by six vessels with a capacity of 4,250 TEU, four of which will be deployed by Wan Hai and two by IAL.

"December was an extra special month for us, as PSA Mumbai reached its highest ever monthly throughput of 94,728 TEU," said PSA Mumbai managing director Sivakumar Kaliannan.

PSA Chennai joined PSA Mumbai in setting its own record monthly high of 93,514 TEU, while other facilities in Kolkata and Tuticorin also performed well, said the report.

Said PSA India managing director Mike Formosa: "All our terminals operated uninterrupted throughout 2020, handling every scheduled vessel call and many more unscheduled ones, thanks to the unstinting efforts of our staff, contractors and stakeholders working steadfastly and safely alongside each other."

PSA Mumbai is located in Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), which handled a total of 459,920 TEU in December 2020, 9.9 per cent up on the same month of 2019 and its highest monthly figure in 20 months.

The total volume of container traffic handled by the gateway port in 2020 was 4.47 million TEU, of which PSA Mumbai amounted for around 810,000 TEU. The busiest terminal was APM Terminals Mumbai (GTI), handling 1.69 million TEU, while DP World's two terminals handled around 1.41 million TEU between them. The port authority controlled JN Port Container Terminal recorded a throughput of around 560,000 TEU.

Said JNPT chairman Shri Sanjay Sethi: "The year 2020 has been challenging for all of us, but we can look back with a certain degree of satisfaction on what we did to keep JNPT up and running and helped maintain the supply of essential goods and trade flows critical for the country."