Shipping Min praises VPA for improvement in global ranking

Visakhapatnam: Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarabananda Sonowal congratulated Visakhapatnam Port Authority for making it to the top 20 ports of the world at 19 in 2023.

The ranking was made by the World Bank and the S&P Global Marketing Intelligence. The Minister said the record marked improvement from 115 in 2022. In a congratulatory message, he said nine ports of India found a place among top 100 ports of the world for 2023.

Adani-owned Mundra Port climbed up the index at 27 in the current ranking, upping its rank from 48 last year in Container Port Performance Index (CPPI) which recently made the assessment based on resilience, efficiency and overall performance of the ports.

VPA headed by Chairman M Angamuthu has put up an impressive performance with 27.5 moves per crane hour, a turnaround time (TRT) of 21.4 hours and minimal berth idle time. These metrics highlight the port’s efficiency in handling container ships and significantly influence customer preference.

Seven other Indian ports, which secured ranks among the top 100 are Pipavav (41), Kamarajar (47), Cochin (63), Hazira (68), Krishnapatnam (71), Chennai (80) and Jawaharlal Nehru (96). Sonowal described the performance of Indian ports in the global ranking as a “tremendous achievement” and a “testament to the efforts taken by the Narendra Modi Government to modernise, mechanise and make them technologically savvy to improve performance and enhance efficiency.” He praised the visionary leadership of Modi for the remarkable improvement of ports through ambitious missions like Sagarmala.