Major ports added 71 MT capacity in Modi government’s first year

NEW DELHI: India’s 12 major ports added more capacity in the first year of the Narendra Modi government than they did in any single year over nearly a decade before that. The total capacity of the major ports increased 71 million tonnes to 871 million tonnes as of March 2015.

The capacity addition since the Modi government took charge is part of an ambitious port-led development strategy drawn up by the government. This includes the attempts of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, India’s largest container facility, to tap into its dollar denominated income to raise funds for the hinterland connectivity projects.

JNPT will be the first port to leverage its dollar revenues, leading the way for other port trusts to follow suit. Nearly 40 projects, including the lastmile connectivity projects and internal port rail projects with an estimated investment of Rs 2,372 crore, have been identified by the major ports.

Work has also begun on the ambitious Sagarmala project for maritime development. The detailed plan about the projects and implementation is likely to be finalised by the end of this year, officials said.

The government is also drawing up a plan to develop port-led industry and townships along with green initiatives such as wind and solar energy parks around the ports under Prime Minister Modi’s initiative on smart cities.

Although the major ports are operating at capacity utilisation of about 70%, which is considered the ideal ratio for efficiency, India still lags behind global standards. The turnaround time for ships at most major ports exceeds three days.

With trade picking up and traffic projections increasing, Indian ports have to gear up to compete with overseas competitors such as Colombo, Singapore and Dubai. While the capacity of major ports grew 9% last year the total traffic handled by the ports increased 4.65% to 581.34 million tonnes.

“On service side we need to ramp up. There is a need for mechanisation of cargo handling, reduction in paper work, documentation and tedious processes involved, which cause delay and add to the costs,” said Vishwas Udgirkar, senior director, Deloitte India.