The container throughput of Indian ports stood at 17 million TEUs for the period 2020 whereas that for China stood at 245 million TEUs for the same period. The combined container throughput across top 20 major global ports stood at 357 million TEUs during the period 2020.

At present, India is not having landside mega-port and terminal infrastructure to deal with Ultra-large container ships. Ports need higher draft, several large cranes, better yard management capability, increased automation, larger storage facilities, more inland connectivity and enhanced labour productivity. Ultra-large container ships seek speedy unloading of the large volumes they carry.

To develop global standard ports in India, Maritime India Vision (MIV) 2030 has identified initiatives such as developing world-class Mega Ports, transhipment hubs and infrastructure modernization of ports. It estimates the investments to the tune of INR 1,00,000–1,25,000 crore for capacity augmentation and development of world-class infrastructure at Indian Ports. The upcoming ports at Vizhinjam (Kerala) and Vadhavan (Maharashtra) have natural drafts in excess of 18m that would enable ultra large container and cargo vessels to call on the ports thereby boosting the efforts to make India the world’s factory by improving the container and cargo throughput.

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

*****

MJPS