Vizhinjam and Vadhavan leads the port developments
The Maritime India Vision (MIV) 2030 has identified initiatives such as developing world-class Mega Ports, transshipment hubs and infrastructure modernization of ports for an estimated investment or Rs.100,000–Rs.125,000 crore.
Among the developments is the Vizhinjam (Kerala) and Vadhavan (Maharashtra) ports which 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 update was given by Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on 7 Feb 2023.
At present, India is not having landside mega-port and terminal infrastructure to deal with ultra-large container ships.
“Ports need deeper draft, several large cranes, better yard management capability, increased automation, larger storage facilities, more inland connectivity and enhanced labour productivity,” he said.
“Ultra-large container ships seek speedy unloading of the large volumes they carry.”
For example, 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. fiinews.com
