Friday 17 May 2019

Famous Myths about Seafarers and Seafaring

          The famous myths about seafarers are as follows

       1.      Earn Loads of Money
2.      Consume Alcohol All The Time
3.      Have Wife/Girl Friend at Every Port
4.      Are Always Seasick
5.      Have to Deal with Pirates everyday
6.      They get to see New Countries
7.      Seafarers Live a Glamorous Life
8.      Have an easy life with 6 Months On Land and 6 Months at Sea
9.       Seafarers are Uneducated Fools
10.   Seafarers have to Fight Wars
11.   Must Be Great Swimmers
12.   Seafaring is like going on paid holidays
13.   Seafaring is boring
14.   Seafarers are better off single

       While these are just myths, the fact is that they are considered to be the most hardworking people working under extreme conditions by putting their life at risk. Also, they spend lot of time away from their loved ones, in a way strengthening the bond in their personal lives. Though they get long uninterrupted holidays close to three months, they have to earn it by working hard under high pressure and multi cultural environment. 

Wednesday 24 October 2018

Most Happening Sea Routes – Major World Shipping Routes of Global Trade

Transport through ocean shipping accounts for more than 80 percent of globally traded products. Most of the products that we use for our general use like clothes we wear, vehicles we drive, TV sets, cell phones are from different countries around the world. There are 8 major shipping routes, considered to be the busiest and handling lot of traffic around the year. The major routes are

The English Channel
Strait of Malacca
Panama Canal
Suez Canal
Bosphorus Strait
Strait of Hormuz
The Danish Straits
Saint Lawrence Seaway

The English Channel:

The channel is 350 miles long, 20-150 miles wide and 15-400 feet deep. Considered to be the busiest shipping lane in the world, separates England and France and connects the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. At the narrowest part of this English Channel is located the Strait of Dover. This strait connects Baltic and the North Sea. On an average of 400 ships use this strait daily.

The English Channel is called The Channel in English and La Manche in French. The English Channel is major route not only for freight traffic but also for passenger traffic too. As mentioned earlier lot of ships traverse through the Strait of Dover. With the increase in size of the ships and the speed, the sophisticated navigational safeguard systems was introduced which includes the radar tracking of the ships.


Strait of Malacca:

This waterway is connecting the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean) and the South China Sea (Pacific Ocean). This strait is 500 miles long and funnel shaped with a width of only 40 miles in the south and broadens towards north with a width of 155 miles. The port has derived its name from the trading port of Melaka (formerly known as Malacca). The strait runs between the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the west and peninsular (west) Malaysia and extreme southern Thailand to the east with a total area of 25,000 square miles. The Strait of Malacca is the shortest sea route between India and China and hence one of the most heavily travelled shipping channel in the world.


The water depths of the strait in the south rarely exceed 120 feet and usually only about 90 feet and towards northwest, it gradually deepens up to 650 feet with the strait merging with the Andaman Basin. This strait attained its present configuration after having inundated by the postglacial rise of the sea level resulting from the melting of land ice in higher latitudes. The climatic condition of the strait is normally hot and humid and influenced by the northeast monsoon during the winter and the southwest monsoon during summer.


Panama Canal:

An artificial waterway which was completed in the year 1914, is one of the two most strategic artificial waterways in the world. The other one being Suez Canal. The canal was opened to reduce the distance traveled by the ships by about 8000 nautical miles. The canal is owned and administered by the Republic of Panama. It connects the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean through the narrow Isthmus of Panama.

The length of the canal is about 40 (65 kms) miles from shoreline to shoreline. And from deep water in the Atlantic to deep water in the Pacific of about 50 miles (82 Kms). The Panama Canal was solely controlled by the United States until 1979 from the date of opening. In 1979, the control of the canal passed to Panama Canal Commission, a joint agency of the United states and the Republic of Panama. But later the complete control passed to Panama on December 31, 1999. More than 14, 000 ships navigate the Panama Canal each year carrying vegetable oil, fats, canned and refrigerated foods, chemical and petroleum chemicals, lumber, machinery parts and grains.


Suez Canal:

The canal was opened in 1869 which is running north- south across the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt to connect Mediterranean and the Red seas. The canal provides shortest maritime route between Europe and the lands lying around Indian ocean and the Western Pacific Ocean. Being the most heavily used shipping lane in the world extends 120 miles (193 kms) between Pert Said in the north and Suez in the south. As mentioned earlier this one of the two artificial waterway in the world.

When first it was opened the canal had a channel which was 26 feet (8 meters) deep and 72 feet (22 meters) wide at the bottom. Later, the excavation and dredging of 97 million cubic yards (74 million cubic meters) of sediments was made. More and major improvements began in the year 1876. With successful widening and deepening of the canal, the canal had a minimum width of 179 feet (55
meters).

 Recent expansions allow vessels up to 66 feet in depth, 223 feet in height, 254 feet in width and 240,000 dead weight tons to pass through. The canal cannot regulate two-way traffic. Instead, ships travel in one northbound and two southbound convoys throughout a 24-hour period. There is one passing area in Ballah-Bypass near El Qantara in the Great Bitter Lake. The Suez Canal Authority of the Arab Republic of Egypt owns and operates the Suez Canal and does collect tolls. Approximately, 3.9 million oil barrels per day transited the Suez Canal in 2016; and in 2017, more than 900,000 tons of cargo travelled through. Top commodities transported are petroleum, coal, metals, wood, oil seeds, cement and fertilizers. 



Bosphorus Strait: 

This strait links the Black sea to the Marmara Sea which actually connects to the Atlantic Ocean. The Bosphorus is 19 miles (30 km) long and 120 – 408 feet deep with a maximum width of 2.3 miles (3.7 kms). More than 48,000 vessels navigate the Bosphorus each year, about 132 per day. Common vessels passing through include general cargo ships, bulk carriers, chemical tankers, containerships, livestock carriers, and liquid petroleum gas carriers. But, because of the strait’s width and length, there are some vessel restrictions.


Strait of Hormuz:

The Strait of Hormuz connects the Gulf of Oman with the Persian Gulf. It consists of two lanes that accommodate inbound and outbound traffic, and a two-mile buffer zone separates them. Hormuz is
also a critical lane for oil transportation. In 2016, total oil flow increased to a record high of 18.5 million barrels per day — or, about 30 percent of the world’s total oil consumption. It’s delivered primarily to Asian markets such as China, Japan, India, South Korea and Singapore.


The Danish Straits:

The Danish Straits are a system of three channels — the Oresund, the Great Belt and the Little Belt — that interlink the North Sea and Baltic Sea. The Great Belt is the widest channel and is the primary passage for large vessels. The Danish Straits are crucial for transporting oil between Russia and Europe. In fact, an estimated 3.2 million barrels per day of crude oil and petroleum products flowed through the Danish Straits in 2016.


Saint Lawrence Seaway:

Considered the most important shipping lane in North America, the St. Lawrence Seaway connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes. Together, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River form the longest deep-draft navigation system in the world. It extends 2,300 miles into North America and directly serves Ontario, Quebec, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, New York and Pennsylvania. Every year, more than 350,000 pounds of raw materials, agricultural commodities and manufactured products travel this route. The amount of products flowing through make it a crucial network for commerce between the U.S., Canada and more than 59 overseas markets.

Thursday 11 October 2018

Port of Shanghai - Container Terminals

Further to my previous post about Port of Shanghai, here we will see in detail about the container terminals in the port. As I mentioned in my previous post there are three major container terminals in the Port of Shanghai. The container terminals in the three areas namely, Yangshan, Waigaoqiao and Wusongkou have a quay length of 13 kms and has a total of 43 berths, 156 quay cranes and container yard of an area 6,730,000 m2. The port’s container terminals have advanced facilities like intelligent gate service which facilitates the speed up of container pick-ups and advanced handling operation with the help of twenty-seven 40 ft twin lift quay cranes. Apart from these, the container terminal also offers CFS services which ranges from stuffing and/or stripping of containers, container pick-ups and delivery, LCL service, etc.,


Now let us see the three container terminals in detail.


WUSONGKOU AREA:

This area of the port is where Shanghai Container Terminals (SCT) Company limited is situated. It is a joint venture between the Shanghai container company limited and Hutchison Port holdings limited. The three container terminals in SCT has a total of 10 berths, 2.3 thousand meters of quays and a 550 thousand square meters of container yards. With the wide range of dock services offered by SCT, it also acts as a shipping and freight agency by handling and washing containers, providing storage and transportation for cargo and also storing goods inland in the port.

WAIGAOQIAO AREA:

This area has the SIPG Zhendong container terminal branch. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of SIPG. Waigaoqiao area is located on the Yangtze’s west bank at about 85 kilometers from the river’s mouth. This terminal has a total of 1566 meters of quays with 5 berths. Since 2000, the terminal provides world class technological facilities, equipment and information management systems. The terminal covers a total of 160 hectares.

YANGSHAN AREA:

Yangshan area which is the deep water port contains the Shanghai Shengdong International Container Terminal Company Limited. This fully owned and operated by SIPG. Launched in 2005, the terminal and logistics park is equipped with latest technology which assures production efficiency and management systems to its customers. This terminal is capable of handling more than 2.2 million TEUs of containerized cargo with a total 3000-meter-long deep water quay, 34 modern container quay cranes. The company manages and operates the terminals at port’s deep water port and also the nearby International Logistics park.

Wednesday 10 October 2018

Port of Shanghai - An Introduction

Port of Shanghai is called the Shanghai International Port (Group) Company, Limited (SIPG). SIPG was incorporated in the year 2003 and in 2006, it became a shareholding limited company with Shanghai’s municipal government, China International Terminals company limited and Shanghai Tongsheng Investment group corporation as its major shareholders. The minor shareholders include the Shanghai State – assets operation company and Shanghai Dasheng Assets company. SIPG is the sole operator of the public terminals in the Port.

SIPG is responsible for handling cargo which includes transporting domestic and international cargo by land and water. SIPG also does de-stuffing, maintaining, manufacturing and leasing containers. Apart from the above mentioned tasks SIPG also does the following:
Managing information on warehousing
Processing, distribution and port logistics
Providing facilities for international passengers
Piloting and towing vessels
Forwarding freight
Providing in-port services
Leasing port equipment and facilities
Building, managing and operating port and terminal facilities


There are 125 berths operated by SIPG in Port of Shanghai with a total quay length of about 20 kilometres. Out of 125 berths, 82 can accommodate vessels of 10,000 DWT and above. SIPG owns and operates public bulk, breakbulk, specialized roll-on/roll-off and cruise terminals within the port. A total of 293 thousand square meters of warehouses and over 4.7 million square meter of storage yards are operated by SIPG. With this, it also owns 5143 units of cargo-handling equipment.

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION OF THE PORT:

The port occupies a very good geographical location with near ideal natural conditions. With a vast economically developed hinterland and ample inland distribution facilities and infrastructure helps the port to manage the cargo traffic efficiently and effectively. The Yangtze River Delta contains a collection of some of China’s most economically active cities.

The agricultural and industrial activities in the Jianghan plain and Sichuan basin forms a powerful base for long term sustainable growth of the port. The total import and export trade moving through the Port of Shanghai represents one-fourth of the value of China’s foreign trade.

PORT’S OPERATIONAL STRATEGY:

The Yangtze river strategy has helped to foster the port’s container market and also to strengthen its cargo consolidation network by increasing hinterland cargo sources and increasing exports. The SIPG promotes the upgrading of vessel size and standards in the port and also help in improving navigation and shipping capacity to create a regional cargo gathering network which covers the whole Yangtze river valley.

The Northeast Asia strategy of the port aimed at developing ship to ship transhipment operations which in turn helped the port to be established as an international shipping centre and also to rapidly
develop the SIPG. The main strategy being to establish an effective and economical barging system and also to integrate port operations. SIPG developed a cargo gathering public feeder network in the port for the Northeast Asian region and a seamless connection between Yangtze and coastal and international transhipment. The main theme for the strategy was “The Port of Shanghai – Your Best Choice.”

SIPG implemented an internationalization strategy to increase the port’s capacity for international operations and as well improve international trade management by forming a cross regional, multi-national network to serve domestic and international markets. Over thousand container ships leave the port each month with their cargo to the world’s major continents and markets. Container business is the major business of Port of Shanghai. Port of Shanghai handled more than 500 million tons of cargo which includes 29 million TEUs of containerized cargo in the year 2009.

There are three major container areas in the port. They are
Wusongkou area – The Shanghai Container Terminals (SCT) company limited
Waigaoqiao area – SIPG Zhendong Container Terminal branch
Yangshan area – Shanghai Shengdong International Container Terminal Company Limited

Tuesday 2 October 2018

Top 10 around the World

Top 10 busiest Ports:

The top 10 busiest ports world over as of 2017 are

Shanghai
Singapore
Shenzhen
Ningbo-Zhoushan
Busan
Hong Kong
Guangzhou
Qingdao
Dubai
Tianjin

Top 10 countries with highest number of ports:

         Country                  No. of Ports

United States           –  552
United Kingdom      – 391
Italy                          – 311
Japan                        – 292
France                      – 268
Canada                     – 239
China                        – 172
Denmark                  – 159
Australia                  – 106
Russia                      – 105


Top 10 World Container Ports:

Shanghai, China
Singapore
Shenzhen, China
Ningbo – Zhoushan, China
Busan, South Korea
Hong kong, S.A.R, China
Guanghou Harbor, China
Quigdao, China
Jebel Ali, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Tianjin, China


Top 10 ports with most number of vessels in port: 

Name of the Port
Country
Vessels in Port
Shanghai
China
2028
Singapore
Singapore
1051
Yangzhou
China
816
Honk Kong
Hong Kong
785
Nantong
China
700
Quanzhou
China
667
Amsterdam
Netherlands
633
Maanshan
China
557
Singapore Anch
Singapore
522


Port of Antwerp - Belgium

Introduction:

The Antwerp port in Flanders, Belgium is in the heart of Europe which is accessible to capsize ships. It is Europe’s second largest seaport. Rotterdam stands first. Antwerp stands at the upper end
of the tidal estuary of the Scheldt. The port’s inland location provides a more central location in Europe than the other North Sea ports. The port is well connected to the hinterland by rail, road, river and canal waterways. In past years the port has handled 14,220 sea trade ships with 190.8 million tons of cargo.


History:

Napoleon Bonaparte, the first person to identify the potential of the Antwerp Port. He later ordered the construction of port’s first lock and dock in 1811 which is called the Bonaparte Dock. Later the Dutch king built the second dock in 1813, called the Willem Dock. Since then the port has seen many changes and additions with advent of time and changes in the world over after the world wars. The golden age for the port was by 1908 when eight docks were built with Royers lock which allowed ships drawing water up to 31 feet to enter the existing docks.


Port Lay-out:

 The port lay –out is divided in to three parts. They are

The Right Bank
The Left Bank
The Deurganck Dock

The Right Bank:

The development of the right bank dock complex started with the opening of the Berendrecht Lock in 1989. This lock is the largest lock in the world with a length of 500 m between the lock gates and a width of 68 m. The depth of the lock is 13.50m. The dock has two large container terminals: Europe Terminal which is operative from 1990 and the North Sea terminal from 1997. The older areas of the port have been modernized with the advent of time and requirements to handle modern cargo operations. The other upgradation includes the Amerika dock, the Albert dock, third harbour dock and Delwaide dock. This paved way for the port to be accessed by Panamax ships. The Southern part of the Delwaide dock which is called the MSC Home Terminal. This terminal is a partnership between PSA Hesse-Noord Natie and Mediterranean Shipping Company(MSC). The total quay length of more than 2kms allows several ships to be handled at the same time. Annual capacity of The MSC Home terminal is more than 3.6 million TEUs.

The Left Bank:

The development of the Waaslandhaven dock on the left bank started in 1960s. But actual work started in 1979 on the Kallo Lock and by the end of 1980 the basic outlines of the Waaslanndhaven were by and large complete. The main constituents of the left bank are Waasaland Canal, the Verrebroek dock and the Vrasene dock.

Later in 1990s other developments like sites in new docklands started. The Vrasene dock handles cargoes which include forest products, fruit juice, cars, plastic granules, scrap and bulk gas.

The Deurganck Dock:

With the existing container terminals on the right bank of the Scheldt reaching its maximum capacity and the continuous increase in container freight volume paved way for the new dock complex, The Deurganck Dock. The first terminal was opened on July 6, 2005. The estimated full capacity of the dock is 8 to 9 million TEU. The wharf length of the dock is 5.5 km. The Kieldrecht Lock, a new lock at the end of Deurganck dock was opened in June 2016 and is the largest dock in the world and gave access to the docks in the port area on the left bank. On the landward side the lock leads in to the Waasland canal. From there the ships have easy access to all other docks on the left bank, the Doel bank, the Verrebroek dock, the Vrasene dock and the North and South mooring docks.

Monday 1 October 2018

Major ports in India

India has a total of 13 major ports and close to 200 notified minor and intermediate ports. Ports play a vital role in the economic development of a nation. About 95% by volume and 70% by value of India's international trade is carried out by sea transport.

Major ports in India:

The major ports are:

  • Kolkata Port
  • Paradip Port
  • New Mangalore Port
  • Cochin Port
  • Jawaharlal Nehru Port Mumbai Port
  • Kandla Port
  • Vishakhapatnam Port
  • Chennai Port
  • Tuticorin Port
  • Ennore Port
  • Marmagao Port
  • Port Blair Port
  • Krishnapatnam Port ( KPCT ) – Private Port.
MAJOR PORTS IN DETAIL:

There are nine coastal states in India - viz, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal which are home to all major and minor ports of India. The long coastline of India forms one of the biggest piece of land into a body of water. These twelve major Indian Ports handle a large volume of cargo traffic and container traffic.
There are total 13 major sea ports in India, out of which 12 are governmental and one, Ennore port of Chennai is privately owned. Ennore Port is one of the major ports of India located at Coromandel Coast of Tamil Nadu state along with Kakinada Port. The Krishnapatnam Port and Mundra Port are other privately owned ports. The 12 major ports of India which are listed are as follows.

Kandla Port- Gujarat

Gujarat host the major seaport of west coast. The Kandla Port is situated on the Gulf of Kutch near the Gandhidham city in Kutch District of Gujarat. The Port of Kandla is the first special economic zone in India as well as in Asia.
Major imports: petroleum, chemicals and iron
Major 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.
Nhava Sheva- Maharashtra
Nhava Sheva now known as Jawaharlal Nehru Port is the largest container port in India, situated at the mainland of Konkan area across the Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. Jawaharlal Nehru Port is the king port of Arabian Sea at west coast and handle a large volume of international container traffic and domestic cargo traffic. 

Major imports: machinery, vegetable oils and chemicals.
Major exports: textiles, carpets, boneless meat 

Jawaharlal Nehru Port is the largest container port in India. It is located east of Mumbai on an island called Nhava Sheva. The port is named after the first prime minister of India. The main purpose of the construction of the port is to reduce the amount of traffic from the port of Mumbai. The port is highly mechanized and uses the latest technology to handle containers. It is the third busiest port in India with an annual cargo volume of 64 million tons.


Mumbai Port
The Mumbai Port is located in the mainland of west Mumbai on the West coast of India with natural deep-water harbour. 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 port of Bombay (Mumbai) is a deep-water cargo port that handles about 20 percent of India’s cargo. It is located on a magnificent natural harbour that is about 10-12 meters deep. Large ships can easily enter the harbour and leave. The port specializes in mineral oil from Gulf countries and dry cargo. 
Major Export:  cotton, textile, manganese, tobacco, and machinery 
 Major import:  crude oil, raw cotton, instruments, machinery, and drugs.
Annual cargo: volume of 61 million tons
Marmagao Port- Goa
The main port of Goa, Marmagao port is a best natural harbours of India located in South Goa. The port of Marmagao is one of the major attraction of Goa . It is one of India’s earliest modern ports and a natural harbour.

Major Export: Iron ores and other raw materials


Panambur Port- Karnataka

Panambur Port known as the New Mangalore Port, is a seaport located near to Surathkal railway station in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. New Mangalore Port is a deep water all weather port and the only major port of Karnataka and one of the largest port in India.

There is a beautiful beach at south of sea port of Panambur along the shores of the Arabian Sea.



Major imports: timber logs, LPG, petroleum products and cargo containers.

Major export:  manganese, granite stones, coffee and cashew




Cochin Port- Kerala

The Cochin port is one of the largest port in India and the 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 transshipment 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.


Port Blair- Andaman


Port Blair is the capital city of Andaman Nicobar Islands, a Union Territory of India located at the juncture of the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea. Port Blair is the youngest sea port in India and one of the 12 major port of the country. The only port of Andaman Islands that is connected to mainland of India through flight and ship.

Port Blair is the principal hub for shipping in the islands of Andaman and the one of the most popular tourist destination with several places of interest around like virgin beaches, scuba diving and water sports.






Tuticorin Port- Tamil Nadu


Tuticorin Port is an artificial deep-sea harbour and one of the 12 major ports of India. It is also the second largest port in Tamil Nadu and one of the largest container terminal in India. The artificial port of Tuticorin is an all-weather port and receives 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.






Chennai Port

Madras Port or Chennai port is the one of the oldest ports 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. 
Chennai Port terminals have lighthouses around, Intra port connectivity, Pipelines and well connected railway lines.
Cargo handled: containers, automobiles, coal, fertilizers and petroleum products


Vizag Port- Andhra Pradesh


The port city Visakhapatnam is located on the southeast coast of India in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Visakhapatnam or Vizag has one of the India’s largest seaport and the oldest shipyard of country. The Visakhapatnam harbour is the only Natural harbour in the Bay of Bengal shore. Kakinada Port is second port city in Andhra and Krishnapatnam Port is a privately built deep water port in Andhra Pradesh.

Visakhapatnam port is the second largest port in India by the volume of cargo handled. The port is located on the east coast between Chennai and Kolkata ports. Visakhapatnam port is built on the Andhra Pradesh coast and is the deepest landlocked port. The main cargo handled here includes f. There are arrangements to have the port handle crude oil and petroleum products. Currently, the port has an

Cargo handled: Fertilizers, iron ore, manganese ore, spices, wood, crude oil and petroleum products

Annual cargo:  volume of 64.2 million tons



Paradip Port- Orissa


The artificial, deep-water port of east coast of India is located in the Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa state. Port of Paradip is the major port in the east coast shore and situated at the confluence of great river Mahanadi and the Bay of Bengal. Paradip Port has its own railway system, cold storage handling plant and a national highway connecting the port with rest of Indian road networks.

Paradip port is the busiest cargo port in India with an  It is an artificial port that can be used in all weather conditions. Its great depth allows it to handle large bulks of cargo amounting to 60,000 DWT. Recently, the port was expanded, and construction of oil jetty was completed to handle petroleum products of volume up to 8 million tons.

Annual cargo: volume of 75.7 million tons.


Haldia Port- West Bengal


Haldia port or Kolkata 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 Kolkata and receive bulk cargoes of Chemicals, Petrochemicals and oils. Port of Kolkata is also a base of Indian Coast Guard.

The port of Kolkata is the oldest operating port in India having been constructed during the British East India Company occupation. This riverine port is located on the bank of River Hooghly and is the main gateway to the East of India.

Major cargo handled: jute products, tea, steel, copper, iron ore, and leather products

Annual cargo: volume of 50 million tons.




Private port - KRISHNAPATNAM Port , Andhra Pradesh  ( KPCT ) 



Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. (KPCL) was formed by winning the mandate from the Govt. of Andhra Pradesh to develop the existing minor port into modern, deep water & high Productivity port, on BOST (Build–Operate-Share-Transfer) concession basis for 50 years. The port is being built in three phases. Post the completion of the first phase in a record time of 18 months, Krishnapatnam Port was dedicated to the nation on July 17, 2008. Currently the second phase of development is underway. Port has numerous strengths like its area, location, weather and the credentials of CVR Group which is promoting this port. It will soon be poised to become one of the biggest ports in the world.

The port is well on its way in becoming the largest automated port for exports and imports in South Asia. It is rated high on all the parameters of operations, including optimum cost, reliability, time and the best available service to customers.

Major Features of the port are:
  • Fastest Turnaround Time for All Types of Vessels
  • Minimal Waiting Time Leading to Almost Nil Demurrage
  • Deep Draft Capable of Handling Capsize and Panamax Vessels, Leading to Significant Savings in Ocean Freight
  • All Weather Port with 365 Days of Operations
  • Round-The-Clock Navigation Without Any Restrictions
  • Single Window Clearance :
                -Port Provides End-To-End Services from Stevedoring to Custom Documentation
                - No Inconvenience of Multiple Interfaces (CHA, Stevedores, Customs, Port)
  • Huge Backup Area of 6,800 Acres
  • Excellent Connectivity by Both Rail and Road to all parts of India