Major ports to transform into mega ports

Visakhapatnam: Under the Central Government's vision to prepare a master plan to develop Mega Ports by 2047, Indian major ports have set in motion work to cut down avoidable delays in cargo handling and ensure faster evacuation of cargo by adopting new generation automated technologies, modern cranes and drone surveillance.

The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has taken very seriously the slow handling of cargo in the major ports leading to loss of revenue to the users by forcing them to pay higher amounts towards demurrage. The bottlenecks in cargo handling were earlier studied at Visakhapatnam and few other major ports by the Boston Consulting Group following which steps were undertaken to some extent to improve the techno-economic parameters.

Ironically, a ship takes 22 days for clearance in India compared to five days in China. Moreover, the total cargo handled Shanghai Port was 270 million TEUs in 2021. Shanghai attracts mother vessels that connect with the US and Europe with each liner having a capacity of 15,000 TEUs. India's premier container cargo port JNPT could handle 5.63 million TEUs.

"Draft in Indian ports is not bad but we need to improve the support system like installation of more bollard pull cranes, tippers and other equipment to handle higher capacities in a mechanised environment. We also need to have better truck terminals and storage space. The shortage of containers should also be addressed by focusing on manufacturing in India," G Sambasiva Rao, Vice-President, National Association of Container Freight Stations (NACFS), told Bizz Buzz on Monday.

Major and non-major ports in India have a capacity to handle over 2562.85 MTPA. During 2020-21, about 1,560.61 MTPA was handled at major ports as against 1,002.24 MTPA at non-major ports.

After a soul-searching session on the performance of the ports, the ministry asked the Indian Ports Association, an apex body of major ports, to prepare master plans so as to make all the major ports into mega ports as part of Vision 2047 to propel the blue economy through incorporation of innovation and new technologies. Sagarmala and Prime Minister's Gati Shakti, the ambitious national initiatives aimed at unlocking the full potential of India's coastline and waterways will form the guiding force for preparation of the vision, a senior official of Visakhapatnam Port Authority's BOT operator, said.

The main thrust will be on reduction of logistic cost, evacuation time, emissions. The plan is to put in maximum use of the 7,500-km long coastline and the 14,500 km of potentially navigational waterways.

As a part of Sagarmala Programme, over 800 projects at an estimated cost of around Rs 5.5 lakh crore have been identified for implementation during 2015-35. Further, under holistic development of coastal districts, a total of 567 projects with an estimated cost of around Rs 58,000 crore have been identified.

The concept of "port-led development" and the projects identified thereunder, are focused on port modernisation, port connectivity, port-led industrialisation, coastal community development and coastal shipping and inland water transport.

This information was given by the Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal in a written reply to the Lok Sabha recently.