the shoreline changes in the region, where the area south of the port has accreted significantly, resulting in the formation of the Marina Beach, whereas the coast in the northern region has undergone severe erosion. Ever since the harbour was constructed, the coast north of the harbour has been experiencing erosion at the rate of about 8 m annually. The shoreline has recessed by about 1,000 m with respect to the original shoreline in 1876. It is estimated that 500 m of beach has been lost between 1876 and 1975 and another 200 m between 1978 and 1995. About 350 ha land in the coast north of the port is lost into sea. On the other hand, the area south of the port is increasing 40 sq m every year due to the progradation. Traffic growth From 1881 to 1945, the cargo handled in Madras port varied from 0.5 million tonnes to 1 million tonnes. By 1979–80, the traffic touched 10 million tonnes and increased to 15 million tonnes in 1984–85. By 1991–92, the volume was 25 million tonnes, touching 41 million tonnes in 2000–01. Though there was a slump in the next three years, mainly due to the transfer of about 9 million tonnes of thermal coal to the Ennore Port, the port recovered to handle 47.25 million tonnes in 2005–06. In 2009–10, the port handled 61.06 million tonnes of cargo against 57.49 million tonnes in 2008–09 marking an increase of 6.20 percent and has set a target to handle 75 million tonnes in 2011–12 and 100 million tonnes in 2015–16. In 2010–11, the port handled 61.46 million tonnes, a 0.66 percent increase over the previous fiscal. The target set for the port for 2010–11 is 65.51 million tonnes against a target of 64.00 million tonnes during the previous fiscal. The terminal's throughput has increased from around 829,000 TEUs in 2006 to around 1.19 million TEUs in 2008. Crane productivity has been improved from 22 moves per hour per quay crane in 2006 to over 27 in 2009. The port annually handles nearly 20 million tonnes of both coal (8 million tonnes) and iron ore (12 million tonnes). During 2009–10, the container traffic from the first terminal reached 1.216 million TEUs against 1.14 million TEUs in the previous fiscal. In 2010–11, this increased to 1.523 million TEUs, a 25 percent growth over the previous year. The second terminal handled