Cargo volume handled by 12 major ports rose by 5.03 per cent to 413.747 million metric tonnes (MMT) in September, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways said on Thursday. In its monthly summary for September 2024, the ministry said the 20th Maritime States Development Council (MSDC) meeting held last month, discussed the implementation of a State Ranking Framework and a Port Ranking System to foster healthy competition and drive performance improvements across India's maritime sector. During the meeting, more than 100 issues from various states were deliberated and successfully resolved. According to the ministry, several new and emerging challenges were also addressed, including the establishment of Places of Refuge (PoR) for ships in distress and the development of Radioactive Detection Equipment (RDE) infrastructure at ports to enhance security. It said the transportation of cargo on National Waterways has reached 56.57 MMT for the April-August 2024 period, registering 4.