Major ports handled 1617 million tons of cargo during last year

The cargo handling capacity of the major ports of the country has gone up to 1617.39 Million Tons Per Annum (MTPA) as of March 2023, the Minister of Ports said on Friday.

The cargo handling capacity reached during 2022-23 in some of India's major ports are: Visakhapatnam Port in Andhra Pradesh stood at143.68 MTPA, Deendayal Port Authority (Kandla port) in Kutch district of Gujarat 269.10 MTPA, Odisha's Paradip Port 289.75, Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Maharashtra 141.37 MTPA.

(While the ports in the west coast particularly in Gujarat and Maharashtra have handled cargo more than their installed capacity, the East coast Ports  turnover was hardly 50 per cent of their capacity. This chronic imbalance in turnover of ports in both the coasts has remained for the past several years)

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Union Minister for Ports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal underscored that Infrastructure development and capacity augmentation of Major Ports is a continuous process.

It involves the construction of new berths and terminals, mechanization of existing berths and terminals, capital dredging for deepening of drafts for attracting larger vessels, development of road and rail connectivity.