NAVI MUMBAI: As a part of Maritime India Summit 2021 the Plenary Season-1 on Developing World Class Ports was jointly convened by

Mr Sanjay Sethi, IAS, Chairman, JN Port & Mr Vinit Kumar, Chairman, Paradip Port & SM Port - Kolkata with speakers from Mega Ports like Singapore, Osaka & Los Angeles.

This informative session was concluded with the address of Dr. Sanjeev Ranjan, Secy - MoSPW followed by Q&A session.

Here are the Brief Highlights -

Dr. Sanjeev Ranjan, Secretary, MoSPW spoke about the importance of Smart Ports, Reducing logistics cost by a Multi-Model shift along with laying stress on developing the Community system of Shipping, Waterways, & Coastal Shipping besides regulatory reforms and the need for green technology.

Mr. Dhruv Kotak of JM Baxi highlighted the critical role of ports in India. “Ports are a critical node in India. India has been consistently improvising its port community system, making it more robust. He also highlighted how the ports can be transformed from being a simple Internet port to a Smart port by way of technological innovations like 5G, IoT, AI, Digitization etc.

Mr. Rizwan Soomar, from DP World said “ Development of Mega Ports will play an important role in India's vision of becoming a 5 trillion economy and to support initiatives such as Make In India and Aatmanirbar Bharat”

Mr. Wan Chee Foong, Regional CEO Middle East South Asia & Head of Group Business Development  PSA International Pvt Ltd said “JN Port has the physical skill, mega-market, digital connectivity, regulatory and sustainability frameworks - all ingredients for a mega port. PSA is proud to be part of JNPT”

Mr. Eugene D Seroka, Executive Director, Port of Los Angeles, highlighted the development of both brownfield and greenfield ports that is important to the Indian Economy.

Mr. Tanaka Toshimitsu, Director-General, Osaka Ports and Harbors Bureau said “Osaka Port has deep connections with Asian co untries and we hope to strengthen trade relations with India.”

Mr. Krist of Waterschoot of Port of Antwerp, expressed his belief in “sharing best practices to improve EODB, transparency & creating value for customers with better collaboration between all parties involved to improve efficiency”