The booming India economy has given a tremendous boost to the manufacturing sector and export.India,s 12 major ports along its 7517 Kms coastline-six each on the west and east coasts and a numberof other ports transport about 95% by volume and 70% by value of India international trade. While themajor ports handle about 75% of  sea-borne traffic, the rest is handled by non-major ports.

To cope with the impressive surge in cargo traffic, which has grown at a rate of more than 10% during the last few years, the Indian ports have consistently focused on expansion of their cargo handling capacities, The aggregate capacity in the 12 major ports as on 31 st March, 2006 stood at 456.20 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) against the traffic of 423,42 million tonnes (MT) during 2005-06. The non-major ports which have witnessed phenomenal growth during the last few years have handled about 150 MT of cargo during 2005-06, As per a recent exercise, traffic in the 12 major is projected to go upto 700 MT by the year 2011-12.It is, therefore, planned to augment the capacities in the major ports to about 1000 MTPA by that period so as to ensure smooth flow of traffic, This would involve capacity addition of about 545 MTPA in the 12 ports during the six years commencing 2006-07.

276 projects involving investment of USD 12_40 billion, the entire gamunt of activities in the major ports have been indentified under the National Maritime Development Programme (NMDA) to be taken up for implementation upto 2011-12. These include berth development, deepening of channels, port connectivity projects, upgradation/modernization of cargo handling equipment and other support activities. A major portion of the investment amounting to about USD 7.67 billion is expected from the private sector, mainly in commercially viable projects like construction of berths and operation of berths and terminals, Public funds will be used, where necessary, for provision of common user infrastructure facilities, Exercise is already underway to identify more projects under NMDP,

The government has been encouraging private sector particpation including foreign direct investment in port development since the early 1990s. The major areas which have been thrown open for private investment, mainly on Build, Operation and Transfer (BOT) basis, in include construction of cargo handling berths, container terminals and warehousing facilities, installation of cargo handling equipment, construction of dry-docks and ship-repair facilities, etc. Foreign direct investment upto 100% automatic route is permitted for construction and maintenance of ports and harbours. Fifteen private sector projects are operational in various major ports. Four more projects are under implementation. The preferred route for private sector participation is through open competitive bidding.

• Third Container Terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port developed on BOT basis by MAERSK A/S $ CONCOR  consortium- Estimated investment USD 200 million.
  
  
• International Container Transhipment  Terminal at Cochin Port to be developed on BOT basis by M/s Dubai Ports World- Estimated investment USD 471 million.
  
  
• First Port based Special Economic Zone(SEZ) at Cochin to come up.
  
  
• Development of Container Terminal at Kandla port on BOT basis is underway- Estimated investment USD 60 million.
  
  
• Terminals for handling Iron ore, Coal and Chemicals to be developed on BOT basis at Ennore Port -Estimated investment USD 222 million.
  
  
• Second Container  at Terminal at Chennai is in the pipeline – Estimated investment USD 109 million.
  
  
• Deepening of main harbour and entrance channel at Jawaharlal Nehru Port for handling upto 6000 TEUs capacity  container vessels taken up- Estimated  cost USD 178 million.
  
  
• Deepening of Approach Channel at paradip Port to handle1,25,000 DWT vessels taken up – Estimated cost USD 34 million.

• Offshore Container Terminal at Mumbai Port – Estimated investment USD 273 million
  
  
• Second Container Terminals at Tuticorin Port – Estimated investment USD 33 million.
  
  
• Cruise-cum-Container Terminal at  Mormugao – Estimated investment  USD 41 million.
  
  
• Fourth Container Terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port – Estimated investment USD 976 million.
  
  
• Marine Chemical Terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port – Estimated investment USD 936 million.
  
  
• Four multipurpose cargo berth at Kandla Port – Estimated investment USD 98 million.
  
  
• Bulk cargo berth at Mormugao Port – Estimated investment USD 31 million. Container Terminal at Ennore Port – Estimated investment USD 222 million (Phase-1)

The  Maritime  States  have  drawn  up plans  for a  number  of  projects to expand their  port  capacities substantially during the next five years, which include projects for capacity addition of 115.50 MTPA in Gujarat, 84.30 MTPA in Andhra Pradesh, 83.20 MTPA in Maharashtra, 30 MTPA in Tamil Nadu, 27.50 MTPA in Kerala, 25.20 MTPA in Orissa and 17 MTPA in Karnataka. These include greenfield  projects, captive  facilities  and  upgradation  of  existing  ports. Gujarat,  inter  alia, has  Greenfield  port  projects,

Simar, Mithivirdi, Vansi borsi, Maroli and Bedi in  the   pipeline, Andhra Pradesh  has , amongst its many Projects ,  Machilipatnam,  Nizampatnam  and  Bhimunipatnam  Ports under  development ,  Kerala  is concentrating  on  Azhikal  and  Vizhinjam  Ports, Tamil Nadu has  plans  for development  of  Cuddalore Colachel and  Rameshwaram  Ports. Maharashtra has  plans for  developing  Rewas- Aware, Dighi, Jaigad Vijaydurg  and  Redi  Ports  on  the  anvil .  Orissa  is concentrating  on  Gopalpur , Dharma  and  Jatadhari. Karnataka  is expanding  Karwar,  Tadri  and  Belekeri  Ports . Pondicherry  has  plans for  development  of Pondicherry   and   Karaikal  Ports , Futher , a feasibility  study  is  being  taken  up for  development  of  a transshipment port at Great Nicobar Islands .

Chennai  Port            
Chennai Port is an all weather  artificial harbour with one outer habour with one a wet Dock and a Boat Basin with round the clock navigation facilities. Today it is fast  emerging as a hub port of the Indian Sub-continent. The port is Connected by road to NH-5 (Chennai-Kolkata),  NH-4 (Access from West) and  NH-45 (Chennai-Dindugal). Chennai Ennore Expressway is under implementation . Port is also well connected with the railway network to the southern parts of Tamil Nadu as also to the rest of India .

Feature

Jawaharlal  Nehru  Port
Located Southof Mumbai Port, Jawaharlal Nehru Port is the biggest container handling port in India accounting for 58% of the national traffic . Out  of the three container terminals in operation , two are operated  by  private operators and one by the port itself .The port acts as a hub port in the region.The port is connected through NH- 4B tothe Mumbai-Pune Expressway,NH-17 to Mumbai-Goa Highway,SH-54 to the Western parts of India.Four laning of NH-4B,NH-4 and SH-54 and construction of a four lane Amra  Marg  including six lane major  bridge across  Panvel Creek have been undertaken . The port  also connected by rail to Panvel . Work on one more  rail track from the port to Panvel which is in progress is expected to be completed during 2006 .

Kandla  Port

Kandla Port is situated on the west coast of India, in the highly developed Gujarat State.A gateway to the North West India, it  accesses a vast  hinterlant of 1 million sq. kms stretching upto Jammu $ Kashmir by meter-gauge and  broad gauge railway systems. The port has two lane  approaches to NH-8A, Four laning of various section of  NH-8A  have also been  implemented . The port is connected by rail to Mumbai and Delhi vai  Ahmedabad .
The port has metre-gauge connectivity to Palanpur .

Haldia Dock Complex

Haldia Dock Complex is connected to NH-41 which links it to NH-6 and the rest of the country. Four laning of 52.2 kms stretch of NH-41 from  Kolaghat - Haldia is in progress. A single rail line from Panskura-Haldia Branch Line connects the docks to the Trunk Railways . Doubling of  the 15 . 05 Kms stretch of this line from Panskura to Rajgoda has been completed .

Mumbai Port

Visakhapatnam Port