Nestled between the blue waters of the Arabian Sea and the green towering Western Ghats – New Mangalore Port – during last five decades of its service has witnessed exponential growth in terms of trade & commerce without compromising key and critical elements of environment. “MARITIME INDIA VISION 2030” the ambitious project of Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, with the aim of overhauling the Indian maritime has emphasized on Green Port Initiatives under which it plans development of green sustainable ports with an aim to increase the share of renewable energy to over 60 per cent by 2030. In line with this New Mangalore Port has successfully implemented various initiatives to ensure improved environmental performance.   

The Port has created a green belt around its vicinity and has earmarked 33% of its land area exclusively for greenery.  For the last 5 years 1 lakh saplings were planted and the process is still going on. Being ISO 14001 certified, NMP had its Plan & vision in place and strives relentlessly to achieve the best results. The collective vision of Management had addressed the issue of “drinking water” and “sewage system” in the Port. The Port has developed Sewage Treatment Plant with a capacity of 1.20 MLD inside the Port area.  This STP is enabled to receive domestic sewage of township and inside the Port as well. The treated water is used for watering the green belt and also for water sprinkling in operational areas. The Port has installed Slop Reception facility for the vessels visiting to the Port and ensures hazardous wastes are disposed through authorized recyclers only. The Port has also developed an Oil Spill Response plan to monitor and control oil spills. Oil pollution drills are conducted regularly in compliance with NOSDCP and NMP is the first port to record the approval of its OSCP in 2017 by ICG complying with Tier-I OSR facility. To meet the water requirement, the Port has envisaged comprehensive plan to harvest the rain water.  In this direction, 3 large water bodies have been created inside the Port area, in the catchment areas covering 64,217  Sq.Mtrs. with a capacity of 1,10,340 CUM of water.  Due to creation of water bodies, the water levels in the nearby village wells also got recharged. Port is now self sufficient in its water requirement.

The Port has installed 5.2 MW solar plant in addition to roof top solar panels at the top of buildings and storage sheds at a total expenditure of Rs. 33.75 crores. The Port has generated total solar energy of 34.95 million KWH up to December 2021 & has achieved the coveted credit of meeting 100% of its power requirement from the solar panels. Due to this nearly 29,709 tonnes of carbon foot print has been reduced (up to December 2021) and helped in saving approximately Rs. 23 crores in electricity bills for the port in 5 years.

The Port has also switched over to LED lighting which are more environment –friendly coupled with power saving. Over the years the port has mechanised almost 90% of its operations so as to mitigate dust pollution in the operational areas as per the Green Port initiatives under MIV 2030. Handling of coal, IOP, cement, etc are now fully mechanized. The port is also not lagging behind in usage of e-vehicles. All the port vehicles will be changed to electrical vehicles in phases.  Two electric buses will be hired for transportation in operational areas inside the harbor in view of adopting multi-clean fueled vehicles.

As part of the future plans the Port will be constructing an exclusive in-house facility to manage solid waste generated in the residential area & Port premises. The plastic waste generated in the Port will be segregated & disposed through an authorized recycler as per Central Pollution Control Board guidelines. In view of re-using the materials generated through Dredging in Port waters the work feasibility study has been entrusted to NTCPWC, IIT (Chennai). The Port is also exploring the possibilities of setting up of a LNG Terminal which will facilitate LNG bunkering of vessels calling at NMP.

Apart from this the Port has implemented ISO 14001 & MARPOL and is in process for implementing OHSHAS 18001 which is an International Occupational Health & Safety Management Certification.

  Hon’ble Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways Shri Sarbananda Sonowal chaired a virtual meeting today (29.01.2022) with all the Major Ports, CSIL & IWAI to review the progress on various green port initiatives being implemented as per MIV 2030.

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