JNP, which has five container terminals, handled 4.40 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) during January-June 2026, compared with 3.87 million TEUs in the corresponding period last year.
| Photo Credit:
PAUL NORONHA
Jawaharlal Nehru Port (Nhava Sheva) in Mumbai emerged the fastest-growing container port among the world’s top 30 ports in the first half of 2026. The country’s largest container terminal saw throughput rising 14 per cent year-on-year, aided by strong Indian export-import demand, increased terminal capacity and a diversion of some West Asia-bound cargo to Indian ports amid geopolitical disruptions.
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JNP, which has five container terminals, handled 4.40 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) during January-June 2026, compared with 3.87 million TEUs in the corresponding period last year. The 14 per cent growth was the highest among the top 30 global container ports. The surge also helped it climb to the 21st position in the global ranking from 28th at the end of 2025, putting it within striking distance of Sri Lanka’s Colombo port.
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Colombo handled 4.44 million TEUs in H1 2026, a 12 per cent increase from 3.97 million TEUs a year earlier, and ranked 20th globally. The gap between Colombo and Nhava Sheva has now narrowed to just about 41,000 TEUs.
Mundra in Gujarat was the only other Indian port in the list, ranked 26th.
Gaurav Dayal, Chairperson, JNPA, in a release said the collaborative performance of the port’s terminal operators, stakeholders and the entire port community is reflected in JNP’s rise to the 21st position — from 28th in 2025 — in the global ranking.
An official of JNP attributed the sharp increase in throughput to the diversion of cargo from West Asia to the port Earlier, huge quantities of cargo from various origins such as China, the Far East, Europe and Asia used to go to Jebel Ali directly. However, all this cargo came to Nhava Sheva and then moved to ports on the east coast of the [Strait of] Hormuz in small batches. This is the primary reason, he said.
Jagannarayan Padmanabhan, Senior Director and Global Head-Consulting, Crisil Intelligence, said JNP’s growth reflected a combination of strong Indian export-import demand and increased terminal capacity, particularly at BMCT and NSFT.
“Improved terminal competitiveness and operational efficiency have enabled JNP to capture more cargo, while the rerouting of some Middle East-bound cargo through Indian ports provided an additional boost in H1 2026,” he said.
“India’s exports have been growing exponentially which have been contributing to the growth in JNPA’s traffic. Besides, the increase in the transshipment cargo at JNP due to the Middle East conflict also added further to this growth,” said Sunil Vaswani, executive director, Container Shipping Lines Association.
Globally, Shanghai retained the top position with 28.74 million TEUs in H1 2026, followed by Ningbo-Zhoushan with 22.90 million TEUs and Singapore with 22.74 million TEUs.
The effect of renewed disruption in the Hormuz Strait, which resulted in a near shutdown of the waterway from March onwards and only a partial and unstable reopening in June, saw volumes plummet over 90 per cent at Dubai’s Jebel Ali to just 374,000 TEUs in the second quarter of the year.
Source: Read the original article on www.thehindubusinessline.com
