India's sea ports capacity rose by 160 million metric tonnes to 1.16 billion tonnes last year. A Shipping Ministry release on Wednesday said that from 1 billion metric tonnes a year in January 2011, the capacity of Indian sea ports rose to 1.16 billion metric tonnes as on December 31, 2011. It said, about 95 per cent of India's overseas cargo by volume and 75 per cent by value are carried by sea. The release added that the country's major ports thus play a key role in facilitating external trade.