Bhubaneswar, March 19 (IANS): The Paradip Port Trust in Odisha on Thursday said it handled a record cargo traffic of 68.05 million tonnes this financial year till March 18, surpassing the 68 million tonnes it handled during the last financial year.

This was the highest traffic handled by the port in a financial year, the port trust said in a release.

Paradip Port Trust is confident of achieving the target of 69 million tonnes fixed by the shipping ministry for the current financial year 2014-15 and is expected to retain its second position amongst all major ports in terms of traffic throughput, it said.

"Traffic handled by the port as on March 18 is 68.05 million tonnes compared to 65.45 million tonnes handled during the corresponding period of previous year with an annual growth rate of 4 percent," it said.

During the current financial year up to March 18, thermal coal traffic exhibited a growth of 20.78 percent, coking coal increased 11.56 percent and fertiliser raw materials grew by 10.66 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.

Paradip port in the coastal district of Jagatsinghpur, about 100 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, is one of the major ports of India serving the eastern and central parts of the country.