India is surrounded by sea from three sides (The
Arabian Sea in West, The Indian Ocean in South and The Bay of Bengal in East) and
is bestowed with a long (Main Coastline 6100 kms and Surrounding the Islands
1416.6kms, Total =7516.6 kms) coastline. Water provides a smooth surface
for very cheap transport provided there is no turbulence. India has a
long tradition of sea faring and developed many ports with place name suffixed
with pattan meaning port. An interesting fact about ports in India is that
its west coast has more ports than its east coast.
Though ports have been in use since ancient times, the emergence of ports as gateways of international trade became important after the coming of the European traders and colonisation of the country by the British. This led to the variation in the size and quality of ports.
There are some ports which have very vast area of influence, and some have limited area of influence. At present, India has 12 major ports and 200 minor or intermediate ports. In case of the major ports, the central government decides the policy and plays regulatory functions. The minor ports are there whose policy and functions are regulated by state governments. The major ports handle larger share of the total traffic.
The British used the ports as suction points of the resources from their hinterlands. The extension of railways (In India Railway started from 16th April 1853) towards the interior facilitated the linking of the local markets to regional markets, regional markets to national markets and national markets to the international markets. This trend continued till 1947. It was expected that the country’s Independence will reverse the process, but the partition of the country snatched away two very important ports, i.e., Karachi port went to Pakistan and Chittagong port to the erstwhile east-Pakistan and now Bangladesh. To compensate the losses, many new ports, like the Kandla in the west and the Diamond Harbour near Kolkata on river Hugli in the east were developed.
Despite this major setback, Indian ports continued to grow after the Independence. Today, Indian ports are handling large volumes of domestic, as well as overseas trade. Most of the ports are equipped with modern infrastructure. Previously, the development and modernisation were the responsibility of the government agencies but considering the increase in function and need to bring these ports at par with the international ports, private entrepreneurs have been invited for the modernisation of ports in India.
The capacity of Indian ports increased from 20 million tonnes of cargo handling in 1951 to more than 837 million tonnes in 2016. Ports are operated by trusts under Major Port Trusts Act 1963.
Some of the Indian ports along with their hinterlands are as follows:
A. Port of Western Coast: -
Kandla Port situated at the head of Gulf of Kuchchh has been developed as a major port to cater to the needs of western and northwestern parts of the country and also to reduce the pressure at Mumbai port. The port is specially designed to receive large quantities of petroleum and petroleum products and fertilizer. The offshore terminal at Vadinar has been developed to reduce the pressure at Kandla port.
Demarcation of the boundary of the hinterland would be difficult as it is not fixed over space. In most of the cases, hinterland of one port may overlap with that of the other.
Mumbai is a natural harbour and the biggest port of the country. The port is situated closer to the general routes from the countries of Middle East, Mediterranean countries, North Africa, North America and Europe where the major share of country’s overseas trade is carried out. (Its Importance increase when the Suez Canal construction was started in 1859 between Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea. The Suez Canal opens the shortest shipping route between India and England in 1869). The port is 20 km long and 6-10 km wide with 54 berths and has the country’s largest oil terminal. M.P., Maharashtra, Gujarat, U.P. and parts of Rajasthan constitute the main hinterlands of Mumbai ports.
Jawaharlal Nehru Port at Nhava Sheva was developed as a satellite port to relieve the pressure at the Mumbai port. It is the largest container port in India.
Marmagao Port, situated at the entrance of the Zuari estuary, is a natural harbour in Goa. It gained significance after its remodelling in 1961 to handle iron-ore exports to Japan. Construction of Konkan railway has considerably extended the hinterland of this port. Karnataka, Goa, Southern Maharashtra constitute its hinterland.
New Mangalore Port is located in the state of Karnataka and caters to the needs of the export of iron-ore and iron-concentrates. It also handles fertilisers, petroleum products, edible oils, coffee, tea, wood pulp, yarn, granite stone, molasses, etc. Karnataka is the major hinterland for this port.
Kochchi Port, situated at the head of Vembanad Kayal, popularly known as the ‘Queen of the Arabian Sea’, is also a natural harbour. This port has an advantageous location being close to the Suez-Colombo route. It caters to the needs of Kerala, southern-Karnataka and southwestern Tamil Nadu.
B. Port of Eastern Coast: -
Kolkata Port is located on the Hugli River, 128 km inland from the Bay of Bengal. Like the Mumbai port, this port was also developed by the British. Kolkata had the initial advantage of being the capital of British India. The port has lost its significance considerably on account of the diversion of exports to the other ports such as Vishakhapatnam, Paradwip and its satellite port, Haldia.
Kolkata port is also confronted with the problem of silt accumulation in the Hugli River which provides a link to the sea. Its hinterland covers U.P., Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Sikkim and the north-eastern states. Apart from this, it also extends ports facilities to our neighbouring land-locked countries such as Nepal and Bhutan.
Haldia Port is located 105 km downstream from Kolkata. It has been constructed to reduce the congestion at Kolkata port. It handles bulk cargo like iron ore, coal, petroleum, petroleum products and fertilizers, jute, jute products, cotton and cotton yarn, etc.
Paradeep Port is situated in the Mahanadi delta, about 100 km from Cuttack. It has the deepest harbour especially suited to handle very large vessels. It has been developed mainly to handle large-scale export of iron-ore. Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand are the parts of its hinterland.
Visakhapatnam Port in Andhra Pradesh is a land-locked harbor (Situated behind Dolphin Rock. It’s the safest port of India), connected to the sea by a channel cut through solid rock and sand. An outer harbour has been developed for handling iron-ore, petroleum and general cargo. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are the main hinterland for this port.
Chennai Port is one of the oldest ports on the eastern coast. It is an artificial harbour built in 1859. It is not much suitable for large ships because of the shallow waters near the coast. Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are its hinterland.
Ennore, a newly developed port in Tamil Nadu, has been constructed 25 km north of Chennai to relieve the pressure at Chennai port.
Tuticorin Port was also developed to relieve the pressure of Chennai port. It deals with a variety of cargo, including coal, salt, food grains, edible oils, sugar, chemicals and petroleum products.
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