Seaports In India

Seaports In India

The peninsular country India has its three sides of the lower part surrounded by water, duly engulfed with Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal, is endowed with conveniently navigable natural ports and a few artificial ports.

Mumbaiharbour occupies a predominant position among seaports in India, carrying an .official name Front Bay, encompassing Six islands around, viz., Butcher Island, Cross Island, Elephanta Island, Middle Ground, Oyster Rock and Salsette Island, handling as much as 54543 thousand tonnes of cargo, lies in the State of Maharashtra,  Mormugao of Goa and J.N.P.T. and  Kandla Port of Gujarat are close by ports in the same region providing equally good facilities of stevedoring for shipment of goods.

New Mangalore Port is situated at Panambur at Dakhshina Kannada part of Karnataka State is the ninth largest seaport in India coming just behind the above ports, serving the needs of the State of Karnataka and to some extent the State of Kerala.

Cochin Port in the Kerala shores of Arabian sea is one of the ancient seaports in India, providing largest container transshipment facility, lying on two islands Kochi’s Willington Island and Vallarpadam,  naturally formed in 1341 AD by floods of Periyar, submerging the then prominent Muziris port, facilitating trading with Romans, Greeks and Arabs those days.

Tuticorin Port, now called V.O.Chidambaram Port is an artificial sea port in India, which is the fourth largest container terminal after Cochin, JNPT and Chennai ports, situated in the southern part of Tamilnadu, affording round the clock operations because of its strategic location, handling container as well as cruise ships.

Chennai Port, formerly known as Madras Port is the second largest sea port in India, which is 125 years old, having started its maritime activities as early as 1639 AD, now transformed into a mainline port with direct connectivity with 50 plus ports of the world, while Ennore port, which is the first privately owned corporate port in India, situated closer to Chennai port in the Coromandel coast in about 24 km distance.

Visakhapatnam Port, popularly known as Vizag port is one of the sea ports in India situated in Andhra Pradesh State, in the South East Coast of India, while the Port of Paradip is the largest sea port in India’s eastern coast, handling 57 million tonnes, mostly coal and  iron ore commodities.

Kolkata Port in the East, covering two important dock systems among seaports in India, namely Kolkata Docks and Haldia Dock complex,  was once the premier port among seaports in India during British times, which has been reduced to lower level of activities due to partition of Bengal in 1947.

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