NEW DELHI : Over the next 25 years India will witness breakneck progress in infrastructure development with communication and transport remaining the bedrock, said Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Minister for Ports, Shipping, and Waterways. Speaking to a news person, he said India’s ports have recorded significant improvement in turnaround time and made a case for attracting more global shipping lines to the country with greenfield and brownfield port upgradation plans underway.

He opined, there has been a significant improvement in port parameters such as port efficiency, productivity, and performance in the past nine years. The total cargo handling capacity in major ports has increased by 86% from 871.52 mtpa in 2014-15 to 1617 mtpa in 2022-23. Policy reforms have also been successfully implemented to empower major port authorities.

This should be looked at considering 60 years of misgovernance of the Congress-led governments, against nine years of breakneck development under the present regime.

On dwell time, he said the average Container dwell time of India is less than 3 days which is better than UAE and South Africa – 4 Days, USA – 7 Days, and Germany – 10 Days.

On steps being considered to encourage Shipping Lines to prefer Indian ports, he said, “we need to enter strategic alliances with major shipping lines to set up their dedicated terminals in Indian ports. This would ensure that their vessels call at Indian ports, bringing more cargo and business. It is also required to increase gateway and transhipment cargo at Indian ports, minimise turnaround time, rationalizing vessels, and cargo related charges. Value-added services such as bunkering, container repair, vessel inspection and repairs can also be developed at Indian ports.”

“Multiple ports are undergoing an uplift. Development of Vadhavan port with cargo handling capacity of over 300 mtpa is under pipeline. This deep draft port in Maharashtra is expected to add container handling capacity of more than 23 million twenty feet equivalent units (TEUs) by 2040, placing India on the global map of top 10 container ports.

Major Ports of Deendayal Port and Paradip Port would also be developed as mega ports having cargo handling capacity of more than 300 mtpa by 2027.