TRADE ZONE

Indian Ports handle around 90% by volume & 70% of value of the country’s export import cargo. As the capacity augmentation of the Ports is an ongoing activity, over the period the capacity has increased to meet the growing trade requirements. The installed capacity of the Ports has gone up from 1312 MTPA (2012-13) to 1716 MTPA in 2015-16. Similarly, Cargo traffic handled by the Ports has gone up from 934 MT in 2012-13 to 1072 MT in 2015-16. Sandeep Sharma examines the Ports and Shipping sector...

Minister of State for Shipping, Pon Radhakrishnan had informed the Lok Sabha couple of month’s back that the average turnaround time of Major Ports has come down from 4 days in 2014-15 to 3.42 days in the current year (upto January, 2017).  The Government is focussing on improving efficiency of the Ports and benchmarking them to international standards.

SAGARMALA PROGRAMME

Under Sagarmala Programme, 415 projects, at an estimated investment of approximately  Rs.8 Lac Crore, have been identified across port modernization & new port development, port connectivity enhancement, port-linked industrialization and coastal community development for phase wise implementation over the period 2015 to 2035. As part of the Sagarmala Programme, 6 new port locations have been identified, namely - Vadhavan, Enayam, Sagar Island, Paradip Outer Harbour, Sirkazhi and Belekeri.

The currentstatus of each of the proposed new port is as follows:

New Port Location	State	Status (As of March 2017)
Sagar Island	West Bengal	Approval obtained for setting up Major Port at Sagar Island. DPR prepared.Viability being re-examined in view of announcement of new port at Tajpur by State Govt. of West Bengal.
Paradip Outer Harbour	Odisha	DPR under preparation.
Sirkhazi	Tamil Nadu	Techno Economic Feasibility Report(TEFR) prepared.
Enayam	Tamil Nadu	In principle approval  obtained for setting up Major Port at Enayam. DPR under preparation.
Belikeri	Karnataka	Techno Economic Feasibility Report (TEFR) prepared.
Vadhavan	Maharashtra	DPR under preparation.

The Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari has recently said that an investment of Rs 2.5 lakh crore is targeted in the state of Tamil Nadu under Sagarmala programme. The minister has said that Rs.39,000 crore will be for port modernization, Rs.55,000 crore for port connectivity and Rs.1,50,000 crore for port led industrialization.

COASTAL SHIPPING / INLAND TRANSPORT / CRUISE REFORMS
India boasts of a rich coastline covering 7500 km and almost 14,000 km of navigable rivers. These provide the perfect foundation for the development of integrated water based transportation system for domestic and EXIM freight as well as passenger transport. The promotion of coastal shipping and inland navigation can benefit in removing rail and road congestion. 111 inland waterways across 24 states have been declared as National Waterways (NWs) under the National Waterways Act, 2016 to boost water based transport system. These will be developed and utilized as environment friendly and sustainable modes of transport. Ministry of Shipping is taking steps towards initiating Cruise Tourism reforms. The ministry intends to simplify Customs & Immigration processes, Single Window System for pre cruise requirements, uniform security procedures, collaboration between the Bureau of Immigration and CISF.

TRAFFIC HANDLED AT MAJOR PORTS
(DURING APRIL TO JUNE, 2017* VIS-A-VIS APRIL TO JUNE, 2016)
					(in ' 000 Tonne)
PORTS	April to June				% Variation
	Traffic				against previous
	2017*		2016		year traffic
1	2		3		4
Kolkata
Kolkata Dock System	4036		4250		-5.04
Haldia Dock Complex	9508		8243		15.35
Total: Kolkata	13544		12493		8.41
Paradip	24436		20599		18.63
Visakhapatnam	15107		15602		-3.17
Kamarajar (Ennore)	7969		7745		2.89
Chennai	12677		13141		-3.53
V.o. Chidambaranar	9042		9603		-5.84
Cochin	7171		6061		18.31
New Mangalore	9963		8483		17.45
Mormugao	8278		8462		-2.17
Mumbai	15571		15140		2.85
Jnpt	16347		15902		2.80
Kandla	27189		26031		4.45
TOTAL:	167294		159262		5.04
Source: Indian Ports Association			(*) Tentative

 

Acceleratingimplementation of Sagarmala programme can be a game changer in the economicdevelopment of the country as all connected geographies would flourish due toincrease volume of domestic and international trade. Ministry of Shipping hasset a target capacity of over 3,130 MMT of cargo by 2020, mainly driven byprivate sector participation. Non-major ports are expected to generate over 50per cent of this capacity. The increase in cargo traffic is likely to push upthe need to augment port infrastructure rapidly and be ready to face the future.The Centre plans to set up low-cost non-major ports along coastline under theSagarmala project. This would boost local trade and remove congestion from theexisting ports.