Seaports In India

Paradip Port

Paradip Port lies at 20°15′55.44″N 86°40′34.62″E. It is an artificial port which is located on the eastern coast, in the district of Jagatsinghpur in the state of Orissa.  This deep water port lies at the confluence of the Bay ofBengal and Mahanadi River. The Paradip Port Trust looks after the administration of the port. It is an autonomous corporation which is governed by the Indian Government.

The Paradip Port is the major Ports in Orissa and has the privilege to be the largest port on the eastern coast of India.In the year 2009-2010, around fifty seven million tons of Cargo was handled at the Paradip Port.The main commodities transiting the port include coal and iron ores. This port is built on an artificial harbor and the ships access the port through the manmade lagoons. The port was established by the former chief minister of Orissa.

History

On January 3rd, in the year 1962, the foundation stone of the Paradip Port was laid. The traffic was opened at the port on March 12th, 1966. The 1st berth constructed at theport handled exports related to iron ore. After independence of India, it was the first main port that was built on the eastern coast of India. The port covers an area of seven thousand acres or 28 square kilometers.

Location

The location of Paradip Port is around 210 marine miles towards the south of Calcutta and around 260 marine miles towards north of Visakhapatnam.It lies at 20° - 15'-55.44" N latitude and 86° -40'-34.62" E longitude.

Connectivity

The Port is well connected with Broad-gauge Railway system of the East-Coast Railway.The national Highway 5A and the State HighwayNo 12 also serves the port. The bus and train services are available from Cuttack and Bhubaneswar at frequent intervals. The bus route connects the port to Rourkela, the steel city and to the Puri and Konark which are the holy towns. The lease line and the broad bands connect the port to various other ports, IPA and Ministry. The cellular services are provided at the port by BSNL, reliance, TATA Indicom, Airtel etc.

Facilities

The number of berths at the Paradip Port is fourteen, having a minimum draft of thirteen meters or forty three feet. The vessels up to 70,000 can be accommodated here. There is a fully automated coal handling plant that is able to handle the import of twenty million tons of coal each year. It has being worked out to increase the depth by 18.7 meters so as to make the port handle the capsize vessels. A western dock will be completed by the year 2014 having six more berths. Other than this many wide ranging projects are being planned with the aim to increase the cargo handling capacity of the port upto 133 million tons by the year 2005.

An autonomous railway system is operated by the port, having own railway station. The track length is around 82 kilometers and more than twenty five sidings are there to handle cargo. There is a route of around ten kilometers that connects the railway system to the eastern Railway Networks.

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