Ports in India

India has a long coastline spanning 7600 kilometres forming one of the biggest peninsulas in the world. It is serviced by 12 government and 1 corporate major ports and 187 notified minor and intermediate ports. The latest addition to major ports is Port Blair on June 2010. With the declaration Port Blair has become the 13th major port in the country.

Major ports handled over 74% of all cargo traffic in 2007. However, the words "major", "intermediate" and "minor", do not have a strict association with the traffic volumes served by these ports. As an example, Mundra Port, a newly developed minor port in the state of Gujarat registered a cargo traffic of around 28.8 million tonnes per annum during the financial year of 2008, which is higher than that of many major ports.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, Navi Mumbai,

Mundra Port, Gujarat,

Visakhapatnam Port, Andhra Pradesh,

Cochin shipyard, Kerala,

The classification of Indian ports into major, minor and intermediate has an administrative significance. Indian government has a federal structure, and according to its constitution, maritime transport falls under the "concurrent list", to be administered by both the Central and the State governments. While the Central Shipping Ministry administer the major ports, the minor and intermediate ports are administered by the relevant departments or ministries in the nine coastal states of West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Several of these 185 minor and intermediate ports are merely "notified", with little or no cargo handling actually taking place. These ports have been identified by the respective governments to be developed, in a phased manner, a good proportion of them involving Public-private partnership.

Cargo handling is projected to grow at 7.7% until 2013-14. Some 70% of India’s container traffic is handled by the Mumbai Port and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Navi Mumbai. It has just 9 berths compared to 40 in the main port of Singapore. It takes an average of 21 days to clear import cargo in India compared to just 3 in Singapore.

Major ports

Chennai Port, Tamil Nadu,

There are also 7 shipyards under the control of the central government of India, 2 shipyards controlled by state governments, and 19 privately owned shipyards. The major ports handled 423.4 million tons of cargo for the financial year 2005-2006, with Vishakhapatnam, Cochin, Kolkata Port, Chennai Port and Kandla carrying the greatest tonnage. Major ports can collectively handle 400+ million tons of cargo annually, and port operations have improved since the mid-1990s. All major ports, except one (Ennore Port), are government administered, but private-sector participation in ports has increased.

Chennai Port, Tamil Nadu

]Handling

The following table gives the detailed data about the major ports of India for the financial year 2009-10 and percentage growth over 2008-09 (Source: Indian Ports Association):

Name Cargo Handled (2010) '000 tonnes % Increase (over 2009) Vessel Traffic (2009–10) % Increase (over 2008-09) Container Traffic (2009–10) '000 TEUs % Increase (over 2008-09)

Kolkata (Kolkata Dock System & Haldia Dock Complex) 46,295 -14.61% 3,462 07.50% 502 17.01%

Paradip 57,011 22.84% 1,531 -0.32% 4 100.00%

Visakhapatnam 65,501 2.49% 2,406 2.51% 98 13.65%

Chennai 61,057 6.20% 2,131 2.5% 1,216 6.38%

Tuticorin 23,787 8.07% 1,414 -7.21% 440 0.22%

Cochin 17,429 14.45% 872 15.19% 290 11.11%

New Mangalore Port 35,528 -3.17% 1,186 0.16% 31 6.89%

Mormugao 48,847 17.19% 465 6.89% 17 21.42%

Mumbai 54,543 5.14% 1,639 1.67% 58 -36.95%

J.N.P.T. 60,746 6.03% 3,096 4.13% 4,062 2.78%

Ennore(corporate) 10,703 -6.93% 273 9.2% -- --

Kandla 79,521 10.10% 2,776 10.29% 147 6.52%

All Indian Ports 560,968 5.74% 21,251 02.82% 6,865 4.25%

Recent developments

In 2000 there were 102 shipping companies operating in India, of which five were privately owned and based in India and one was owned by the government (Shipping Corporation of India). In 2000 there were 639 government-owned ships, including 91 oil tankers, 79 dry cargo bulk carriers, and 10 cellular container vessels. Indian-flagged vessels carried about 15 percent of overseas cargo at Indian ports for financial year 2003.

The Gangavaram Port in Andhra Pradesh, inaugurated in July 2009, is India's deepest port, with a depth of 21m.

Port of Dhanra in Odisha(Orissa) to be inaugurated in August 2010 and will be the deepest port (18 meter deep) of India.. There are another 5 ports offing in Odisha.

(source:wikipedia)