A comprehensive update on Indian Ports and Cargo situation 2017. This sector handles the lion's share of India's foreign trade and is most crucial to our economy's speed.
Indian Ports
According to the Ministry of Shipping, around 95 % of India's trading by volume and 70 % by value is done through maritime transport (sea routes). This makes it the biggest supporter of our foreign trade processes, and India is the sixteenth largest maritime country in the world, with a coastline of about 7,517 km.
Details of ports
- India has 13 major and 200 notified minor and intermediate ports. These are in Maharashtra (48), Gujarat (42), Tamil Nadu (15), Karnataka (10), Kerala (17), Andhra Pradesh (12), Odisha (13), Goa (5); West Bengal (1), Daman and Diu (2), Lakshadweep (10), Pondicherry (2), and Andaman & Nicobar (23).
- Cargo traffic, which recorded 1,052 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) in 2015, is expected to reach 1,758 MMT by 2017.
- The Indian Government has allowed Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of up to 100 per cent under the automatic route for port and harbour construction and maintenance projects.
- It has also facilitated a 10-year tax holiday to enterprises that develop, maintain and operate ports, inland waterways and inland ports
- Here is the detailed location and topography report of all major ports - Kolkata, Haldia, Paradip, Vishakhapatnam, Chennai, Kamarajar, Tuticorin, Cochin, New Mangalore, Mormugao, Mumbai, JNPT, Kandla, and Vadinar.
Image Source : Government websites
Government initiatives & private sector participation
The Indian Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Mr Nitin Gadkari, announced huge investments in India’s ports and roads sector, to boost the country’s economy. The government plans to develop 10 coastal economic regions as part of plans to revive the country’s Sagarmala (string of ports) project.
- The zones would be converted into manufacturing hubs, supported by port modernisation projects, and could span 300–500 km of the coastline. The government is also looking to develop the inland waterway sector as an alternative to road and rail routes to transport goods to the nation’s ports and hopes to attract private investment in the sector.
- Measures to improve operational efficiency through mechanisation, deepening the draft and speedy evacuations are on. Major ports have outperformed private ports for the second consecutive year by registering a growth 6.79 per cent in 2016-17, whereas the private ports recorded a traffic growth rate of 4 per cent
- The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, reported that the Indian ports sector received FDI worth US$ 1.64 billion between April 2000 and March 2017.
- Indian shipping companies are expected to gain from the surge in country's iron ore exports to China, and as a result shipping firms are increasing the number of their large sized vessels deployed on the India-China route.
- Reliance Defence and Engineering Ltd (RDEL) has signed a contract with the Ministry of Defence for the design and construction of 14 fast patrol vessels (FPVs) for the Indian Coast Guard, at a cost of Rs 916 crore (US$ 137.4 million).
- Tata Steel has signed an agreement to purchase 51 per cent stake in Creative Port Development (CPDPL), which has a concession agreement with the Odisha government to develop a 10 million-tonnes-per-annum (mtpa) Subarnarekha port at Chamukh village in Balasore district of Odisha.
- The Ministry of Shipping, Government of India, has announced plans to execute 199 residual maritime projects worth Rs 800,000 crore (US$ 124 billion) over the next two years, via government funding.
- The Prime Minister of India launched several projects of Kandla Port Trust, including Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Convention Centre, 14th and 16th General Cargo Berth and Interchange-cum-ROB at Kutch Salt Junction among others.
- The Union Cabinet approved the proposal of Ministry of Shipping to replace the 'Major Port Trusts Act, 1963' by the 'Major Port Authorities Bill, 2016', which will empower major ports to perform with greater efficiency by having full autonomy in decision making and by modernising the institutional structure of major ports.
- The Ministry of Shipping plans to undertake development of 37 national waterways (NWs), out of the 111 NWs declared under the National Waterways Act 2016, in the next three years, which would have positive impact on reduction of overall logistics cost.
- The Union Cabinet approved a new productivity-linked reward (PLR) scheme for 37,870 Port and Dock workers in all the Major Port Trusts for the years 2015-16 to 2017-18 at an annual cost of Rs 49.58 crore (US$ 7.4 million).
- Mr Nitin Gadkari stated that India would like to collaborate with Germany for projects worth Rs.1 trillion (US$ 15 billion), aimed at enhancing port rail connectivity and identifying environment-friendly technology for scrapping of old vehicles.
Source of information : IBEF and others
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Latest cargo and traffic statistics
- Ports doing well : The growth trend line at India’s major ports in being driven and sustained by technological advancements for the modernisation of ports and reforms for improving the ease of doing business in the country. The 7 ports of Kolkata, Paradip, Chennai, Cochin, New Mangalore, Mumbai and JNPT (Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Navi Mumbai) saw positive traffic growth from April to August 2017.
- Major ports : Cargo traffic handled by India’s major ports increased 5.56 per cent year-on-year to 113.63 million tonnes (MT) during April-May 2017. In terms of composition of cargo traffic, iron ore traffic volume rose 33.28 per cent to 9.96 MT, coking coal grew 12.67 per cent to 9.30 MT, and Fertiliser traffic went up 20.09 per cent to 1 MT during the period. The major ports handled a combined traffic volume of 647.43 million tonnes during 2016-17, registering an annual growth rate of 6.79 per cent, as against a growth of 4.32 per cent in FY 2015 -16. The major ports recorded the highest ever capacity addition of 100.37 MT in 2016-17, thereby raising the total capacity to 1065 MT per annum, as against a capacity of 965.36 MT per annum in 2015-16.
- Traffic at Major Ports :
- The Cochin Port saw the highest growth at 20%
- New Mangalore followed with 13.26%, then Paradip 12.57%, Kolkata (including Haldia) 11.45%, Jawaharlal Nehru Port (also called NhavaSheva) 6.18%
- The major growth at the Cochin Port can be attributed to increase in POL (Port of Loading) traffic and container traffic by 28% and 12.79% respectively.
- The Kolkata Port showed an overall positive growth of 11.45% with the HDC (Haldia Docking Complex) showing a positive growth of 19.08%, mostly due to an increase in the iron ore traffic.
- Statistics : From April to August 2017, the Kandla Port handled the most volume of traffic at 44 million tonnes with a share of 16.06%. Next was Paradip with 40.37 million tonnes and 14.74% share, JNPT stood at 27.54 million tonnes with 10.05% share, Mumbai at 25.84 million tonnes with 9.43% share, while Visakhapatnam handled 25.45 million tonnes accounting for a 9.29% share.
- Breakup of cargo : These 5 ports accounted for 60% of all major port traffic. Commodity-wise breakup is : POL 34.00%, container 20.17%, thermal and steam coal 12.82%, other miscellaneous cargo 12.12%, coking and other coal 7.49%, iron ore and pellets 6.84%, other liquids 4.29%, finished fertilizer 1.17% and FRM 1.10%.
- RFID tagging : This has been implemented at the gates on all ports. This allows smooth entry and exist of trucks and in-port movement to optimize cargo flow. It alsoenhances security. When the entry and exit of trucks and drivers is recorded using the RFID card system, it reduces paperwork andin turn, the human interface. This brings our ports at par with global benchmarks. Advancement in technology has increased the productivity at India’s major ports. The 12 major ports of India handled 273.96 million tonnes of cargo from April-August, 2017. The corresponding period of the previous year saw 265.31 million tonnes which means an overall growth of 3.26% has been reported.
- Ministry’s proactive efforts : The Ministry has also been actively pursuing legislative reforms to filter out old and redundant laws and enhance the connectivity of ports to improve their efficiency under the Sagarmala Programme. India is striving to improve its manufacturing competitiveness with Make in India. For this, the Government of India is leaving no stone unturned to make ports the drivers of socio-economic change and aid long term growth trajectory of the economy.
- IPO of Cochin : The resounding success of IPO of Cochin Shipyard Ltd is an example of the positive investor sentiments. The issue got oversubscribed 76 times. The recent RBI report too acknowledged the higher growth in cargo traffic and the efficiency gains measured in turnaround time at ports which is helping in transforming the Indian economy.
Historical Performance of Major Ports
Five Year Plans and the Shipping industry
All Airports and Seaports of India
Image Source : Wikipedia
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