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The volume of cargo traffic handled at the government-run Indian ports has witnessed a decline in the current financial year, owing to the disruption brought about by the pandemic. There has however been a progressive improvement in the volume of cargo traffic at the major and non-major ports from the lows of April-May 2020. The recent surge in Covid-19 infections and the consequent reimposition of coronavirus restrictions in various regions鈹丒urope and the US have raised concerns over the sustainability of the rebound in cargo volumes. At the same time, there is growing optimism over the vaccination programme-led economic recovery that is expected to lead to a rise in trade across economies and thereby cargo traffic at ports. Cargo traffic at India鈥檚 12 major ports, which handled a little more than half (53%) of the country鈥檚 total cargo volumes, has declined by 7% to 601 million tonnes during April to February of FY21, compared with 643 million tonnes in the year-ago period. Following the sharp contraction during April-May 2020 which was the period of the nationwide lockdown, there has been a sequential as well as an annualised pickup in traffic at these ports following the unlocking of the economy. According to the report, after a gap of eight months, traffic volume registered year-on-year gains from November 2020, growing in the range of 2% to 4% in the subsequent four months. This improvement coincides with the pick up in the economic activity and trade, domestically as well as globally. There has, however, been a moderation in the monthly growth of cargo traffic in February 2021, after rising on a sustained basis for eight months since June 2020. Traffic volumes were 9% lower than that in January 2021 and can be attributed to the renewed restrictions amid the surge in Covid-19 infections, especially in the advanced economies. Read the full ports sector update in the latest CARE Ratings report here.