Major Seaports of India and their Importance

There are total 13 major sea ports of India, out of 12 are government and one, Ennore port of Chennai is the corporate one. 12 major ports of India are listed as follows:

1.Kandla Port- Gujarat: The Kandla Port is situated on the Gulf of Kutch near the Gandhidham city in Kutch District of Gujarat. It is a natural deep water port and it serves mainly the state of Gujarat. The Port of Kandla is the first special economic zone in India as well as in Asia. It is considered as India's hub for oil and food grains' imports. Kandla Port is hub for major imports like petroleum, chemicals and iron also export grains,salt and textiles. Port of Kandla is one of the highest earning ports of India, another port in Gujarat is Mundra Port,India’s largest private port.

History of the Port: The history going beyond English rule in India, but the importance came after India indipendance. Due to partition, India lost Port of Karachi and the traders came to port of Mumbai. By this Mumbai port strained beyond capacity. Due to this reason Union government starting the thinking of a new port and they decided it should build in Kandla.

2. Mumbai Port:  Natural Harbour and on West Coast with Konkan on its east and island of Mumbai on its west.. The Mumbai Port is located in the mainland of west Mumbai on the West coast of India with natural deep-water harbor. Mumbai Port is the largest port in India and handles bulk cargo traffic with its four jetties for handling Liquid chemicals, Crude and petroleum products. International container traffic of Mumbai Port is directed to the new and big Nhava Sheva port. The deep waters in the harbour provide secure and ample shelter for shipping throughout the year.

3. Cochin Port- Kerala: Natural Harbour and on west coast is  a major port on the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean sea route. The port of Cochin lies on two islands of Willingdon and Vallarpadam and the largest container transhipment facility in India. Kochi Port is equipped with maritime facilities Cochin Shipyard, Kochi Refineries and Kochi Marina. Kochi city is famous for its traditional spices and well known as the port city of Fort Kochi during the European colonials. It also get its individual Kochi international airport, third international airport in the state of Kerala.

The port is India's first International Container Transhipment Terminal on Build-Operate-Transfer basis with Dubai Ports World, in the island of Vallarpadam, north of Willington Island. The new state-of-the-art facility will have capacity to handle about three million twenty equivalent units of cargo. Its main advantage from other ports in India is it lies near the busiest international ship channel.

4. Tuticorin Port- Tamil Nadu: Tuticorin Port is an artificial deep-sea harbour. It is also the second largest port in Tamil Nadu first is Chennai Port. The artificial port of Tuticorin is a all-weather port and who receive a large volume of international traffic. Port of Tuticorin are a used to be best port for maritime trade and pearl fishery on the bay of Bengal. The port city is also known as Pearl City and is one of the beautiful sea gateways of India from Tamil Nadu state. Also it is the first Indian port to have received an ISO 9002 certification. This port may be one of the oldest in the world and the history goes up to the Pandya dynasty. The Port of Tuticorin will have a naval base to protect Gulf of Mannar.

5. Chennai Port: Madras Port is the one of the oldest port of India and the second largest port in the country. Chennai Port also the largest port in the Bay of Bengal and a hub port for cars, big containers and cargo traffic in the east coast of India. Port of the Coromandel Coast handles a variety of cargo containers,automobiles,coal,fertilizers and petroleum products. Chennai Port terminals have lighthouses around,Intra port connectivity,Pipelines and railway terminus.

It is an artificial harbour located on the Coromandel Coast. A unique feature of this port is its usage of single window clearance system. Formerly known as Madras port is the second largest port in India and the history of this port going up to 1670's,a little fishing village Channa Pattana. It is the largest sea port in bay of Bengal. It is around 125 years old port. With the number of car manufacturing companies located around Chennai, potential exists for large-scale car exports through pure car carriers (PCC) shipment is doing from Chennai port.

6. Paradip Port- Orissa: The artificial, deep-water port of east coast of India is located in the Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa state. Situated at the confluence of great river Mahanadi and the Bay of Bengal i.e. port rests on the delta of the Mahanadi River as it enters the Bay of Bengal. Paradip Port has its own railway system, cold handling plant and a national highway connects the port with rest of Indian road networks. This port was originated with the efforts of former Orissa chief minister Mr.Biju patnaik and in 1962, and then Prime Minister Jawaharlal lal Nehru laid the fountain stone to the port.

7. Haldia port- West Bengal: Haldia port or Calcutta Port is a major seaport situated near the Hooghly River in the state of West Bengal. Port of Haldia is one of the major trade center for Calcutta and receive bulk cargoes of Chemicals, Petrochemicals and oils. It is also a base for India's Coast Guard, with a hover-port housing two of the Coast Guard's six hovercrafts. It is a riverside port. It is situated near Kolkata at the convergence of the Hooghly and the Haldi rivers. It has two dock systems. Kolkata Dock System (KDS) comprises the impounded dock systems at Kidderpore Dock (KPD), and Netaji Subhas Dock (NSD), in Kolkata, Petroleum Wharves at Budge Budge and Anchorages at Saugor, Diamond Harbour and Sandheads are grouped under Kolkata Dock System (KDS).This is 140 year old port.

8. Port of Vishakhapatnam: It is India's second largest port by volume of cargo handled. During the Second World War, the military significance of the port increased. This port plays a major role in the domestic and international trading operations of India. It serves as the base junction for Northern, Central, Southern and Eastern States of India. The Port of Visakhapatnam's natural harbour is formed by two promontories that create the only protected harbour on the Coromandel Coast. The Port of Visakhapatnam is home to the headquarters of India's Eastern Naval Command. Iron ore, manganese ore, steel products, general cargo, coal and crude oil are the main commodities handled at this port. The port known as largest oil handling in the country. Visakhapatnam Port is undergoing a modernisation and expansion program aimed at increasing its capacity to 130 million tonnes by 2016-17, entailing an investment of INR13,000 crores. The inauguration of the Gangavaram Port, located 15 km away from the Visakhapatnam Port, has led to a significant diversion of traffic away from the Visakhapatnam Port.

9. Port of New Mangalore

The Port of Mangalore is the main seaport for the state of Karnataka on the south-western shores of India and in the Arabian sea. The Port of Mangalore is an all-weather port and the ninth biggest port in India.

Many foreign travellers were impressed with the Port of Mangalore and mentioned it in their writings. Greek monk Cosmas Indicopleustes and Roman historian Pliny called it Nithrias, and Greek historian Ptolemy called the Port of Mangalore Nitre. The new Port of Mangalore was formally inaugurated by Indira Gandhi in 1975.

The port lies on (Latitude12° 55' 37" N, Longitude 74° 48' 42" E). The Port of Mangalore handles three-quarters of India's coffee exports and most of its cashew exports.

10. Port of Mormugao

The port of Marmagoa is the main port of Goa state of India. This is a natural harbour located at the river Zuari. . The Portuguese chose the Port of Mormugao to be the capital of their empire, and it was an important trade center for the British.

The Port of Mormugao continues to be India's leading iron ore exporting port, primarily to Japan, China, Korea, and European countries.

This port lies on(Latitude 15° 24' 35" N, Longitude73° 48' 2" E).

11. Port of Nhava Sheva

The port is also known as Jawaharlal Nehru Port after Late Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of the country. It lies on Latitude 18º 57' N, Longitude 72º 57' E. It was built to reduce the pressure on the Port of Mumbai and has served its purpose well and is now the busiest port in India. It has been planned and constructed quite recently in accordance with international standards and State-of-the-art facilities for handling dry bulk cargo. It handles the export of textiles and related products and imports of aluminium, plastics, chemicals, vegetable oils, machinery, and etc.

12. Ennore Port: Ennore Port, located on the Coromandel Coast about 24 km north of Chennai Port, Chennai, it is the 12th major port of India, and the first port in India which is a public company. The Ennore Port is the only corporatised major port and is registered as a company. he Centre holds a stake of about 68 per cent in the Ennore Port and the remaining 32 per cent is held by the Chennai Port Trust. Ennore Port, designed as Asia's energy port. Envisaged being a satellite port to decongest and improve the environmental quality at the bustling Chennai Port, Ennore Port is evolving itself into a full-fledged port.

The following list of Major Sea ports based on Total Cargo handled annually in the year 2012.

Name	Cargo Handled (2012)	Location
Kandla	82,501	Kutch, Gujarat, India
Visakhapatnam	67,420	Visakhapatnam
J.N.P.T. (Jawaharlal Nehru Port)	65,746	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Mumbai	56,186	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Chennai	55,707	Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
Paradip	54,254	Jagatsinghpur, Odisha,
Kolkata (Kolkata Dock System & Haldia Dock Complex)	43,245	Kolkata, West Bengal
Mormugao	39,001	South Goa District, Goa, India
New Mangalore Port	32,941	Panambur, Mangalore, Dakshina Kannada District, Karnataka, india
Tuticorin	28,105	Tuticorin, Tamilnadu, India
Kochi, Kerala	20,091	Kochi, Kerala, Inai
Ennore (Corporate)	14,956	Ennore, North of Chennai Port

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